Bejeweled
by The Syreth Clan
Summary: Some says opposites attract, just like magnets. After entering to a co-operative fashion contest with a randomly chosen pony, Rarity have to face with the fact that this statement is not always true.
1. An (un)usual monday morning

Some hay, some vegetables and a neat slice of bread adorned the unicorn's sandwich. Rarity was always the girl who took great care of her body and weight. Sweetie Belle wasn't home, she hung out with her friends as usually, which Rarity missed a little. A breakfast is not a breakfast without your sister after all. However as she were wondering where her sister might be, a familiar voice gave the answer.

"Raaarity!" shouted Sweetie, attempting to lure out her. Talk about the devil and it shalt appear they say, though in her eyes, Sweetie Belle already was the most adorable little devil in Equestria.

"Big sis, you got a letter." the filly continued, which made the fashionista come out in an instant. What was inside, that was the big question.

Just by the prim and proper cover it was easy to tell it wasn't an ordinary message. Rarity's excitement skyrocketed as she read the sender's name. She began to squeal, making her sister worry a little.

"Are you alright?" Sweetie asked.

"Remember that contest I told you about a few weeks ago?" asked Rarity back. It wasn't exactly a few weeks ago, actually, more like a week and a few days. Rarity was received an invitation - in a form of a letter - to which she answered back in almost an instant. Of course, what was inside the letter was no filly's business, but that didn't stop her to tell her sister a little bit about it.

"Uh...no?" Sweetie answered.

"It's a cooperative competition. Two fashion designers are chosen randomly, and must work together to create the most magnificent dress they can. It's a tournament about Teamwork, Skill and Passion." she explained in a dramatic way, putting that great force on those last words as one would expect from her.

"Sounds interesting, what are you waiting for? Open it! I wonder who you got as a partner." shouted Sweetie Belle, catching the contagious excitement.

Rarity quickly unfolded the letter and began to read it in herself.

"Nah? Who is it? Who's it? Some handsome stallion?" harassed her the filly. It was one of those things she had in common with her sister, the interest in the other gender. So much in fact the filly already had the "prince of her dreams" in her head.

It took the ivory unicorn some moments to find the answer, which she began to read out loud.

_"For your future teammate, our system randomly chose Ms. **Agate** from **Canterlot**. We hope our competition will fruit a new, wonderful relationship between you two._

_Best wishes and good luck."_

"Agate?" asked the filly in confusion.

"Sound quite familiar but I don't know why. But she's from Canterlot, isn't it wonderful? A magnificent, hi-class Canterlot-pony must be a remarkable experience to work with." replied Rarity, it was just the thing... well, almost, but still, she was to work together with a real canterlotian fashionista, something that would have a lot of advantages to her business on the long run.

The filly however wasn't that excited as her big sister, who was already planning on traveling to Canterlot to meet her future partner, when a familiar noise called her from behind.

A letter arrived, an urgent letter to Rarity. For the unicorn's huge surprise, this Agate was already one step in front of her, if not two, for the letter was sent yesterday evening.

_"Dear Rarity!_

_You might have probably received the letter that we'll work together from now on. I can't wait to work with you, so much I already packed up and brought a few materials here in Canterlot, so we won't need to shop later. I'm planning on paying you a visit tomorrow, if you don't mind, I'd love to work at Ponyville since I've never been there and this big city life is getting a bit uncomfortable, but we can talk about this later._

_See you soon._

_Agate."_

Rarity dropped the letter, her horn filled up with her azure blue magic aura, she put her hoof on her forehead and acted as she'd faint as she quickly dragged her sofa to lie on, while confessing to her little sister, who she already saw asking if she's okay.

"Agate is coming today for a visit. How could we possibly greet her in the appropriate manner in such little time." she cried dramatically. It all seemed hopeless in a sudden, she didn't at all expect this to happen. Yet, it was no time for all this, that was something both of them knew.

"Uhhh. I'll... clean up upstairs." suggested Sweetie.

"Yes." jumped up the drama queen "Meanwhile I-" but her sentence was broken in half by the doorbell. It was her, Agate. Rarity gulped a huge one, so huge she could barely grasp it. Their nerves were on the edge as Rarity opened the door, which's bell was rang again right that second.

An unknown face and two amethyst eyes were staring at the doorbell, as her pale yellow hoof was pushing against it. She was puffing up a pink bubblegum bubble, that later popped up, making her sound a small "Ow!" as the sweet hit her lips. She had a light purple mane and tail and she wore eye shadows of the same color. Her look, however suddenly switched towards Rarity, whose pupils shrunk instantly, until the stranger greeted her:

"Hey, girl! What's up?"

Rarity was stoned... she couldn't even say a single word, making the mare continue:

"Did your cat got your- ah wait a moment." she said, spitting the bubblegum on her right hoof and gluing it to the back of her right ear, making Rarity shiver and twitch in disgust.

"I'm Agate, pleased to meet ya. You must be Rarity." the yellow unicorn said cleaning her hoof with her coat and lending it to the other unicorn, who they shook hooves with. Rarity however just awkwardly smiled nodding.

"Hi there!" greeted her Sweetie in excitement.

"Oh, hey, and who'd you be?" she asked back. Her voice had that canterlotian accent to it, yet instead of being refined and gentle, it was loose and more of a punk's, then a lady's.

"I'm Sweetie Belle, her sister." the filly replied, getting into the wild attidute of the stranger.

"Alri-hight." chuckled Rarity's new mate. "Hey, how 'bout we'd get inside and discuss some stuff?" she recommended.

"Sure, come in." shouted Sweetie as she ran back.

"Your sister is cute." chuckled Agate as she followed the filly inside, Rarity coming last, with her eyelids twitching, confused.


	2. Getting to know you

"She's totally cool huh, Rarity?" asked Sweetie in the kitchen as she bought the cookies for their visitor. She was - as the slang would say - "digging" her.

"Cool?!" shouted up the big sister, quickly shutting up her own mouth afterwards for being too loud, then continued in quiet whispers "She's not cool. Didn't you see what she did with that gum?".

"Ah, just chill out sis, I think if you give some time you'll like her." Sweetie hushed out with a fling of her hooves, but this didn't help the ivory one, not in the least.

"And I have to work with her in the next two weeks, the entire, next, weeks." Rarity said with dramatic pauses. It was just a matter of time she pulled the sofa once again, yet she somehow didn't.

"From all the things that could happen this is the worst possible thing." she cried, forgetting to watch her own volume once again.

"Hey Rares, need help?" Agate shouted from behind her, making the fashionist jump in shock.

"Nnnoo, thank you, please take a seat. We have some cookies and tea." she replied. Rares? They rarely knew each other and she already called her by the nickname? The question of Agate actually being canterlotian was swilding in the chaotic mind of Rarity, thinking it might have been just a mistake in the administration. Maybe somepony simply mixed up something, in no way this girl was from the City of Class.

"Oh you're so kind. Thanks." the yellow pony replied, grabbing a chocolate cookie and swallowing it in whole.

Rarity with an awkward smile on her face waited, as the guest destroyed the sweets one by one, though after the third cookie she broke the silence.

"So... you're a streamstress from Canterlot?" she asked. It was time to look for answers, a lot of answers. Yet, Rarity remained ever so patient, for she knew there were questions better left unasked, and nothing will come in a day.

Agate, after gulping what she had in her mouth answered: "Sort of. Actually, I'm falling into the armorsmith category.".

"Armorsmith?!" shouted Sweetie in surprise. It was something new, exciting, and badass, something totally opposite her sister expected from her. What happened with the little princess Sweetie Belle in sudden, that was the question.

"Mhm, I'm designing custom armors for ponies who're looking for something unique, as well as I'm making stuff for royal guards." she answered.

"Well, that's certainly an interesting concept." Rarity commented as the topic suddenly caught her interest,. She also wanted to hear more, allowing herself to put her hooves on the table with a bit of a lean forwards, it was not something you see somepony doing everyday "And how do the guards think of their armor being made by a girl?" she asked.

Agate, her mouth filled with another cookie just hummed and pointed towards her, wagging her hooftip up and down, until finally she got some air

"They find it kinda awesome, you know those guys aren't always the way you see them at their posts, they think I'm cool actually, a whole bunch asked me to... I ain't gonna tell it in front of a filly, hehe."

Suddenly she waved an arc with her right hoof and hit the table. "Enough of me, what's up with you?" she asked and took another cookie from the dish.

"Well, my shop runs quite well nowadays as well." she admitted with a bit modesty, taking her eyes away.

"Quite well, hah! You should have seen my face when I saw your name on the paper. You made quite a fame in Canterlot, believe or not." complimented her partner, making Rarity blush even more, but on the inside, she was overwhelmed with joy. It was just the thing she wanted to hear in a long, long time, her having a reputation up there, in the place of the elites.

"So we're going to work through the next week together. How did you plan this?" Rarity asked, though she felt it might be a little bit early for that this much in the beginning.

"Well I thought, for first we just introduce ourselves and show the stuff we make, then we come up with something, create it and milk the money." she said with childish carelessness.

"Yeah! Come on sis, show her what you got." said Sweetie Belle. She wanted to see her new friend's opinion on her sister's dresses.

"Oookay then." smiled Rarity awkwardly knowing her workroom is an utter mess. Sweetie ran to show the way, the two fellows following her.

"Wow, Rares! Your room is totally like those fancy Canterlot bedrooms. I see you were in the middle of some stuff. Still better than my room, though. It turns into a battlefield when I'm working." Agate chuckled at the fabric being laid on the desks instead of being stored in the shelves. The sewing machine turned off despite the beginning of the textile was already waiting for being sewed. The measure tape hanging on a mannequin as well as the scissors and Rarity's fancy, orange glasses lying on the table next to it. The guest decided to take a small stroll around to check the room out from all directions.

Rarity took a look at her smaller wardrobe if she can find a nice dress for her to show and try on, when Agate herself decided to take a look as well.

"Would you like to try up one?" Rarity asked, slighly annoyed about the fellow poking her nose into her business.

"They all look so beautiful. Can I?" she questioned while picking a wonderful, gold-adorned dress with magenta color.

"Oh that's my gala dress, I remember the first time I went there, wasn't really what I expected." she said, bringing up old, but not too pleasant memories.

"Pfft, the gala is for stuck-up snobs, I was invited like three times, turned down all of them." Agate confessed while trying up the beautiful dress, entirely shocking Rarity. It was okay to be a bit loose, but turning down a chance to the Grand Gallopping Gala? That's unheard of.

"How do I look? It should be better if I had my mane dyed to fit the magenta I think. What do you think Rares?"

That name, only her friends could call her Rares, and she was not one of them... probably never ever be. Yet still, her tolerance, though wasn't unlimited, had a very high treshold, and such little thing was something she didn't allow to be bothered about.

"It's really, um, nice." sounded the answer awkwardly, and while Agate do looked nice, she was more of worried about her creation being potentially harmed.

"Wow, I'm not used to this lightweight stuff, it's like wearing nothing at all." Agate noted, walking towards the mirror and checking herself out before turning back to her partner "Do you wanna try my armors as well?" she asked.

Rarity with an uneasy smile nodded, while Sweetie just screamed "Yes!".

"Mind you if I leave my stuff here? I think it'd be the best if we'd work here in Ponyville." Agate asked, explaining her thoughts about the subject.

"But the best materials can be found in Canterlot. Why would you like to travel so much?" the seamstress asked in confusion. The smith had no point in staying, but it was easier for the unicorn of grace to bring up some valid points first, instead of telling her that she can't stay.

"Because... ah, nevermind, you'll see." replied Agate continuing "So? Are you coming?" murmuring something afterwards.

"Yes!" jumped Sweetie Belle.

"Sweetie Belle! You can't come." Rarity forbade her bigger sister in a strict, ordering voice, turning her head towards hers.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhh! But Rarity... pleeeeaaaase?" begged her Sweetie with puppy eyes, eventually making Rarity agree. She let out a painful sigh, this wasn't at all how it played out in her mind. The dream became a nightmare... one that is going to last for fourteen days.

The train, as usually, was on time again. The unicorns walked up the machine, and took their seats on a side, waiting for what seemed to be forever until the train began to move at last. After a few silent minutes, Sweetie broke the silence.

"How're things in Canterlot?"

"They're alright... I guess." replied the armorsmith, with no interest showing in her eyes whatsoever.

That was the one and only question on the train. Seemed like Agate doesn't like to talk about her home, it was clearly written in her eyes, something Rarity could tell with ease.

With time, they arrived.

"Stay by my side Sweetie Belle, Canterlot is a really big city." Rarity told her little sister. No matter how many times she was here, the beauty of the capital never failed to amaze her. The enormous houses, and the panorama was the thing she longed for in her entire life.

"Yeah, but not only the city's big." added Agate with a bitter voice, who led the way to her workplace. On the way though, Rarity noticed the civilians being a bit different.

Where they went, hostile faces were watching them. Rarity started to understand what's going on, but still some pieces were missing.

On a corner, however, two known faces shown up from the crowd of unknown ones: Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur-dis-Lee.

"Mister Fancy Pants?" asked Rarity, making him look at her.

"Ah, Rarity. Greetings, so long we haven't met." he said, however his eyes quickly wondered at the other unicorn, his face showing hostility. Agate also fiercely looked back at him, while Fleur set her mane, but as soon as she stopped, Agate instantly called her:

"Hey Fleur, what's up?" she asked, for the disgust for her husband and huge shock for Rarity. What was even more shocking, the answer.

"Oh, good day Agate." the model giggled back "Things are going well, the Gala Glamour magazine asked me to be on the cover. How about you, have you made it in?" she replied, smiling back, even hoofpumping gently with the armorsmith after walking a few steps away from the other two so their conversations won't interfere.

"Yes I did, I got Rares as my teammate, seems like you both know her. That's a good point." Agate noted as they both looked at the seamstress, who was discussing with Fancy Pants.

Fleur chuckled "I think you and her going to get along really well, creating something really unique."

"You know, Fleur, without you I couldn't have made it this far." she confessed with dreamy eyes and a bit of a blush on her face.

"It was my pleasure, no need to thank, especially not three times." chuckled back the wife, throwing her mane in the air as she faded her eyes from the public once more, one of her very common gestures.

"Are you done, yet?" interrupted Sweetie inpatiently, forcing them to get going after a small farewell, they both had things to do after all.

Several minutes of silent walking later, but finally they arrived. Agate's home was just like any other. It was fancy, it was pretty, it was beautiful. It's walls were white, just like any other houses' as well as the stripy, blue and yellow, pointy roof. From the wall a bigger hatchment with a hammer and armor was hanging indicating that it is a shop. Soon as they entered, however Agate instantly pointed at the door leading towards the basement, where the magic happen.

The basement was quite dark, but the light of the furnace gave a warm feeling. It was somewhat similar to Fluttershy's cottage, the middle was empty, and the furnance, the anvils and tables were located next to the walls, with hammers, trimmers and other tools.

"So how does this, armorsmithing works?" Rarity asked, as she allowed to take a look around, but only using her head to do so, it was a dangerous place after all.

"This, girl, is where everything begins. Here I form the materials into correct shape if they're not premade or unique." she explained, pointing towards the area with the furnance and the anvil.

"Premade?" questioned Sweetie.

"Yes, like metal sheets that I made the armor plates of." she answered, picking up a hammer from a desk "Let me introduce you to Hamy. She's one of my best friends. Here, give her a hold." she said, handing the tool to Sweetie then proceeding back up, to her workroom.

"Come, come, that's my favorite place." she said opening the door of her workroom. It was just like a seamstress' workroom except that the fabric sheets were replaced with cold steel sheets and instead of thread, nails, ribbons or scissors, a small circular saw, molds and pencils lied on the desks. Right of the desk stood a higher, drawing desk. Rarity also had one, that's the point when an artist gives a shape to her ideas on paper. Just like Rarity, Agate also left her designs on the desk, making Rarity take a closer look.

The design was pretty neat, it was an armor, yet still on the paper it looked so fabulous and unique. The armor was thick steel dyed in similar blue as the royal guards have, covering the whole chest, leaving the legs uncovered, but being attached to a white fabric on the back, to make the wearing more comfortable. From the left front leg, a huge sleeve was hanging, made of white fabric, with steel armor pieces bordering it, inside it, small steel plates linked together giving the protection. Going backwards, the white fabric took over the body as a dress, with blue streaks decorating it as flowers of the same color grew from them, with lighter linked steel plates covering her back, all the way to the tail. From that point, only the white textile was the only protection.

In the lover left corner, the text "Guardian's bride" was seen on the paper.

"Wow, Agate, darling this design is magnificent." she complimented, as her eyes just kept wondering all around the reference sheet.

"Which one? The Guardian's bride? Thank you, it was my most successful one. Oh, wait a moment." she said, quickly digging herself inside a shelf, where she kept her magazines. A few moments later, she showed it to her friends.

It was a not-so-old "Diva Daily", with Fleur on the cover in the Guardian's Bride, posing as a beautiful bride. It looked wonderful on her, different, yet still wonderful.

"Beautiful!" said Rarity. It fit her so much, yet it was just so alien to her.

"She really is. Fleur is... truly a miracle." Agate said, as she became moved in all of a sudden, her eyes becoming dreamy, as if she was in love.

"Are you crying?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"What? No!" replied the forger in surprise, but evidently, she sighed up, as it was time to confess "I just... You know, I hate Canterlot. I hate these picky, snobby pricks living here, getting everything on a silver plate and complaining because of the smallest stupid things. But Fleur... she's different. I mean she's as much of a poser as the others, hell, she's the biggest poser I've ever seen, yet still... her heart is bigger than her head."

Everything was clear as a window now, yet Rarity felt she does need feedback "I see. Let me get this straight, Fleur visited you to have an order for an armor for her."

Agate nodded.

"You made it, and it was so wonderful Fleur got onto the cover with it."

Agate nodded.

"And ever since you became good friends."

Agate nodded and added the following "Her success was so great suddenly everypony wanted armors, my business skyrocketed. I couldn't thank her enough."

"But..." asked Rarity with a raised eyebrow, as she felt the armorsmith is not done yet.

"But later, ponies were sending back them, and kept complaining that it's too heavy and stuff. They all asked for a refund, I gave them nothing." she said, in a mad voice and huff, turning her head away with a swift move as a sign of frustration.

"Uuh, it's steel, of course it's heavy." noted Sweetie Belle, putting down the heavy hammer from her mouth.

"One day though, Fleur also came back. I though she's also going to throw her armor at me, but instead, she came to say sorry. She blamed herself for causing all this mess, regardless of Fancy blaming me for even coming up with the idea."

"This explains the hostile reaction towards you." said Rarity, as she put the pieces together "However, if you have such a bad reputation, how could you enter this contest?"

"Fleur... I have no idea how she did it, but she convinced the judges, so I can get the last space." Agate answered, then ran up to Rarity and grabbed her right leg with both her hooves.

"You've got to help me, Rarity." she said, almost shouted even "This competition may be my one and only chance to get out of this hell." the armorsmith begged. Her eyes were empty of any lies, and was filled with hope and misery instead, something the Element of Generosity. Agate's story touched the seamstress' soul as cold ice the back. Winning all those bits were beneficial for her as well, so it was obvious to help, even though she knew it's going to be a lot more difficult than expected.

"You know, if that's what you meant to say on the train, it's okay if you stay with us in Ponyville." she said, resting one of her hooves on the back of her new partner who clearly was suffering from the sadness.

"Really?!" shouted Sweetie from the wardrobe, jumping out with a way too big helmet on her head nobody really knows here she found.

Rarity gave out a heavy sigh, then made her final decision: "Yes!"

"YES!" screamed Sweetie Belle with such force it sounded a bit creepy.

"But then we need to buy materials, and a good design." continued Rarity, breaking the enthuisasm for both ponies.

"I'll bring all my stuff to you then. I might as well start packing up. Until then, why don't you walk around Canterlot and do some... stuff." advised Agate.

"Where should we meet afterwards?" asked Rarity.

"Train station, in a hour. Okay?"

"Hohohoo, wait darling, we just arrived. Would you already want to go back to Ponyville?" the seamstress asked. True, Agate desperately wanted to get rid of Canterlot so she allowed her to stay, but she didn't let the smith have everything she wanted, not everday one can go to Canterlot.

"Uhm, okay. We can... stay here for a day or two, I guess." Agate answered "So you wanna sleep over? I sure can lend you a space in my bed, it's big enough." she continued, but after seeing her friends slightly awkward expression she changed her mind. "You don't have to, though, just thought if you... you know, want to."

"Thank you for the offer, but we'd rather stay in a hotel, don't want to be a bother to you." Rarity replied as politely as possible. She had something in mind so they wouldn't have to stay here, who knew what weird things Agate might keep here, or what she does while snleeping.

"You wouldn't, but sure." Agate shrugged, giving it up.

The time passed by quickly, as lunchtime was almost over when they began to look for Rarity's new residence. Canterlot had many hotels, more and more luxurious, but it didn't took much search to the seamstreess to find the ideal place, a four horseshoe hotel just a few blocks away. She pointed towards it "This one. Being a resident nearby, do you know anything special about it?" she asked.

"Other than it being absurdly expensive, nah, I don't." Agate shook her head. Rarity frowned, it was true her pal did not like the city, but there was no need to be _this_ grumpy.

"Well, thank you anyway. We'll take a little walk before checking in, in case you'd like to look for us."

"Sure thing, enjoy your trip." Agate smiled back "Oh and Rares! Thank you." she said as a last sentence, making Rarity smile adorably before they parted ways.

Rarity anxiously walked down the main street, her sister... less so.

"So where are we going first? The toy shop, or the sweets store? Can I get a cotton candy?... Rarity! Rarity!" Sweetie shouted as she kept jumping up and down.

"Huh? No, no, no..." replied Rarity letting out a sigh "Sweetie Belle I'm really worried about Agate."

"Oh come on..." moaned the filly, fed up with all of this pish-posh her sister was coming up with.

"This is extremely serious!" the white pony shouted "Agate knows nothing about the decorum and etiquette, if she goes to the contest with such an attitude it'll be a complete disaster." Rarity told the little one.

"And what are you going to do?" asked Sweetie curiously.

"Seems like I have no choice, I have to make a lady out of her." said Rarity with a determined voice.

"She is in good relation with Mrs. Fleur, this is a good start, I also have a friend back in Ponyville who might help." she explained, her thoughts all over the place as she tried to catch them like flies. There was one pony, indeed, somepony who also moved to Ponyville from Canterlot. Rarity didn't take chances, she needed all available help she could get for this one.

The filly just listened without a word, as Rarity headed to the market where the trophy wife would most likely hang out, shopping for the most expensive accessories a pony could get. There she was, at the necklace stand, alone this time.

"Mrs. Fleur?" the seamstress asked as she approached the slender unicorn slowly, yet still showing utmost confidence.

"Indeed." she replied throwing her mane in the air as she turned. "Oh, the pony with the great taste from before, how may I help you?"

"Could you lend some help by answering a few questions regarding to Agate, next to a tea maybe?" the unicorn asked.

"Oh, Agate, I remember her saying you being her partner." the model chuckled, as she tried on a necklace made of pearl beads and gazed into the small mirror by the side, not even looking at Rarity at first.

"Yes, I have some questions about the... incident that happened."

That moment, she stopped, her beautiful, light pink glow being summoned in her huge, beautiful horn as she used it to put the beads back to the counter while she faced Rarity "Not here, please! Let's discuss this in private." whispered back Fleur menacingly, gazing in the eye of the seamstress.

The two unicorns walked down the street, to the closest restaurant, while Sweetie Belle was having fun in the playground just on the other side of the street. Canterlot wasn't the place anyone would expect her to get in trouble with other fillies, mostly because none of the used the playgrounds in the first place, but since the tables were on the streets as well, there was also a great view on her in case of an accident.

Fleur started whispering again as they sat down on the fine, comfortable pillows "Agate is a taboo here, nopony wants to hear about her and the mess she caused again."

"Can I help you?" asked a waitress next to them with a gray coat and a blue mane she tied into a bun.

"Just two cups of tea, madam." answered Rarity as a lady would. The waitress nodded and left, Rarity could now continue.

"I understand. You may have noticed that Agate's behavior is a little..."

"...different? Indeed I did, she's really energetic, loose and most of all passionate. Unlike many others here she doesn't feel the need to hold up a certain level of class, which is understandable as she's a productive force while the others are consumers." Fleur explained sipping into her tea the waitress just served.

"Excuse me, but what does that supposed to mean?" Rarity asked in confusion also tasting her drink.

"Take a look at me, dear" said the top model throwing her mane high up once more "I am a perfect consumer, I'm beautiful, level-headed and classy, while the window cleaner or the end of the street..." but instead of finishing her sentence she just sipped another one into her tea with her eyes closed, letting the other one figure it out herself. Rarity took a deep gaze at the stallion with a green cap, his face full of zits and his hamster-like teeth constantly showing. The unicorn instantly turned away in disgust. She slowly started to understand the hierarchy of Canterlot that is split into two.

Fleur chuckled "See now? What's interesting is that Agate is stuck between the two sides. This is what makes her so special."

Rarity nodded, staring at the ground for a second. After all, Agate had all chance to become one of the big hits in the society of the capital if she wanted to, but she refused. She thought it over for a little more, then looked at the trophy wife "Do you think we can lift her up into the hi-class?".

This got Fleur thinking for a moment, scratching her jaw a little bit with her hooves. "Most certainly, but that would require a lot of convincing. Agate hates the upper crust and vice versa, her look won't be a problem, but her attitude, that will be the biggest obstacle."

"I see, Mrs. Fleur I'd be humbled if you could lend a helping hoof on the topic." asked Rarity the most gentle way possible.

"I guess that's a medicine she has to take if she'd like to win that competition, and one that only I can give her. I'm willing to help if time allows me, but please keep it a secret from Fancy Pants." the model agreed, and while she had just as big of an ego as most other elitists, Rarity was better off with not even caring about it.

"Will do, and thank you very much." smiled Rarity adorably. The biggest help was on her side now, even though the fact that they will work in Ponyville might limit her ability to assist. However, as I said, she needed every helping hoof she could get.

"And how things are going in your boutique?" asked Fleur changing the topic to kill time that they still had plenty of.


	3. Manners are what matters

Just the way the Sun rose up from it's slumber - woken up by Princess Celestia - did Rarity wake up as a gentle yawn left her mouth. She stretched herself and took off her sleeping shades with her magic.

"Good morning Canterlot." she said as she opened her sapphire eyes, which looked sort of confused for a moment as they weren't used to such environtment. The mare didn't mind, though, in fact she thought she could get easily used to this. Luxurious room in a luxurious hotel, worth every little bit. She walked up to the balcony, something that could not found at home and took a huge breath from the gentle scents in the air.

"What a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing~" she blabbered as she went to the bathroom to wash her face only letting the water stop her monolouge, for a few seconds, before she left the bathroom with her brush "...and this suite is gorgeous. It's just the cherry on the top."

"Rarity?" a voice asked from behind. "Who're you talking to?"

"Oh, good morning Sweetie." Rarity replied, brushing her mane into its signature curly shape "I was just praising this marvelous place, just look at it-"

"Yeah, we went through this yesterday." cut in the filly with a moaning tone. Seems like she didn't really want to wake from her slumber. "I'm going back to sleep." she turned around slowly taking her steps towards her room.

"Sure, I'm taking a stroll outside meanwhile. I'll be back in a few minutes." the ivory unicorn sang before putting down her brush and leaving her suite.

Even at this time in the morning the streets of Canterlot weren't silent from the ponies. Though it wasn't uncomfortably full either, just a few residents walking up and down the streets.

'Ah, now this is life. Now I just hope I won't bump into-'

"RARES!" A squeal broke her train of thoughts as the seamstress' worst nightmare ran up from behind on the other side of the street. Annoyed eyes of angered royalty helped her aim her eyes towards an olive-coated unicorn. No doubt, it was Agate. Her mane clearly set with hooves instead of a propel tool and she had small wrinkles under her eyes.

"He-hey gal, what's up? Hope you slept well in that fancy hotel or whatever." she said, with a gentle smile towards her new friend. Her speech was interruppted by the strange smell of cider and mint pouring out from her mouth. Agate was most likely hanging out with the Royal Guards yesterday night... again. She already began to lower her reputation towards Rarity, despite it looked hardly possible. The seamstress could barely stand her, and she wanted to get her plan going as soon as possible. And by that she meant right here and now.

Regardless... even though they met about a day ago, Agate seemed to be outgoing towards somepony who has an above average class, which is rare. Of course, she also knew this is not the case to hate on the upper crust, as they were teammates for a while and hatred in a team has no benefits.

Once the crowd returned to mind their own business the two mares started to take a stroll around the town.

"Seriouly though, how was that hotel? Were there any cool stuff like water beds or something?" the armorsmith asked, now in a more regular tone.

"It's such a lovely place, filled with all high class equipment from the entrance till the bathroom. Though, a waterbed would have been a bit of an overkill don't you think?" she asked, raising one of her eyebrows as they walked down the street.

Rarity and Agate were like day and night, yin and yang, and they both were aware of that as well as they were aware that opposites attract, which would only result in a clash. And they were already pulling towards each other.

"But tell me, what is the reason for this random shout over the streets?" Rarity asked, her eyes piercing through the armorsmith's.

Agate let out a silly giggle before answering. "Well, from what I saw you enjoyed yourself. Didn't want to just trot up and then scare you s-" then as unexcepted as a strike of lightning she stopped. Agate may not be as sophisticated as other Canterlotian ladies, but she had her own manners and rules such as "Only swear if the other partner does". Despite that, her answer had a lack in logic, but she didn't seem to take notice.

"Hmphf, I was perfectly fine until the screeching sound of your voice echoed in my ears all of the sudden. That scared me probably even more then you just coming up to me." Rarity replied to Agate after the deep exhale, in the form of a huff, was done. But it did took her by surprise that the sudden silence had fallen. A thing she took as a sign of relief. Trying to hide something for the ivory unicorn was not as simple as it looked, though.

Agate yawned, naturally not covering her mouth with any hoof before continuing "Maaare you should have been out with me last night. We had a party noone could remake, ever!" she shouted in the air. "Night Sparrow locked himself into the fillies' room, again. And imagine-" the armorsmith turned back to her friend, but as soon as she gazed into the steamstress' eyes she cut the annoying rambling. They were so close the air started to boil around them. The impact was inevitable at this point now.

"I was laying peacefully asleep in my bed at that hour after a long day of work. I never have been one for those wild parties and I made it clear to you, yesterday. But obviously, you were too far gone to save it in that brain of yours." The words spoken, could be harmful and Rarity knew that all too well. If she forces Agate out from her comfort zone it might be easier for her to gain some 'territory'. It was all part of her plan.

Agate took a sharp look at her face, then headed down to her chest, front legs and hooves, and with an arc her sight ended up on the ground in front of her. She checked her breath using her hooves. She brushed her teeth after waking up, but only lighly and carelessly, just like her mane. Despite that, she felt nothing special, thus she turned to her friend, with a less energetic way of speech "Do I still smell like a zonker?".

"Oh you have no idea how bad you smell. I think you didn't even got any sleep last night." Rarity huffed once again angrily. The action may had it's risk, but were extremely rewarding for both of them if it worked. From the signs however, it did.

"Well, yeah, I didn't." replied Agate scrathing her hooves against her head. She knew she stepped over the line, though she didn't know where that line exactly was. Her standards are certainly lower than Rarity's, and the last thing she wanted is a hateful teammate. Determined to improve her relationship she decided to take action against the smell first place.

'This gotta do it.' she thought as she took out a bubblegum and started to chew on it. The gum had a nice, but really strong minty taste. Strong enough that it was a bit of piercing the armorsmith's tounge.

"So if you're not partying and stuff in your free time, then what are you usually doing?" she asked curiously, hoping she can find a way to get a little bit more into the heart of the ivory one.

Rarity was watching the skies as small white puffs started to gather up on them, she didn't fly away from reality though, and turned back almost in a second after the question "Well a party of high class from time to time can't harm, but normally I just withdraw myself. Sit somewhere one a nice terrace and just enjoy the view to be seen. Sit still and let the world run by, watching the others hurry to whatever it is they were having to go it. And just, think. Philosophize about life itself. Heavy subject I know and, a little unexpected from a mare like me." she explained, not really interesting Agate much. Moreover, the olive one rather gave her a strange look, as she couldn't decide if that was a joke or her friend was really serious? For her, standing and thinking was rather... incomprehensible. What good is in that?

But Rarity added one more thing "Oh, and there is reading. The scent of paper, the marvelous idioms, the emotions compressed in those words. Nothing is better than a good book to entertain you." she explained.

"I see, reading is pretty cool. I sometimes read a book before going to sleep, so I dream some nice stuff." she replied, which got her thinking. "Isn't there some library in Ponyville, by the way? If I'd have seen one before, like, some big tree or something?".

And there we go again, she got herself daydreaming about Ponyville. She has only been there once, but that was enough to her to set her goal. It was just the place to be, quiet streets, average, everyday ponies, relatively cheap shops, everything she was looking for was found there. The only thing she needed to move there was money. That money she and Rarity would get by winning the competition. The quote "One lives one's death, one dies one's life." seemed to be so true at that moment.

The daydreaming didn't go unnoticed, however. "May I ask what is so attracting to you in Ponyville this much?" asked Rarity. Agate was too busy daydreaming to realize she have been asked a question... for a moment at least. Though when she came to realization she became slightly confused.

"Huh? Ponyville? No, well, yes. Um, what's attractive? Well, uh..." she blabbered, slowly returning to real life before continuing "Ponyville is so relaxed, calm, silent, you know... all these stuff."

Rarity giggled behind her wrist from the response "Well, it certainly has it's charm." she agreed.

"Not to mention the pony folks. They're all, um, you know, natural and not anywhere picky as these fancy fellas here." Agate replied, taking a look at a couple with two decorated hats on their head, their head looking straight up in the air from sheer pride. Her volume was slowly decreasing showing clear lack of impression towards the higher class.

No matter how the ivory coated unicorn looked at it, Agate had a major point made to her. One that was nearly impossible to counter with any of hers. "I don't say it often, but you are right on that. Photo Finish and Hoity Toity are among the worst if you ask me." Her own reply was also lowered to make sure none of the ponies around them could hear them.

Agate, hearing the seamstress' answer raised her head in surprise. She didn't at all except such an answer, moreover she rather excepted the opposite. Though, it felt good to her to hear that, really good. Suddenly she felt extremely warm inside, knowing that her friend might be not one of those. It filled her with relief and hope.

"That's awesome." she said "I thought you're like these Canterlot ponies at first, but I see you're different." she explained.

After looking through the street she suddenly realized she forgot where she was headed before, though she could mind it less. She rather joined Rarity on her journey instead.

"So where we are heading?" she asked in possibly the most straightforward way, her face brightening up once again. But afraid of another hurtful impact she quickly added another sentence turning her head away a little "If you don't mind me next to you or something, you know.".

"Hm? What?" she replied to the question before thinking a bit. "We weren't heading to anything in particular. Just setting a step at a time and see where the legs carry us." she told Agate. Though the plans for the morning may have changed a little, it was a great opportunity to improve their relationship a little. Either that, or a small self-controlling exercise. But why did she had that odd feeling she forgot something?

Few seconds of walking later something caught the attention of the armorsmith.

"Hey, how 'bout a light breakfast?" she recommended, pointing towards the logo of a small tea-house on the other side of the street. Though, her tip of her hoof suddenly changed direction as it ended up in front of her mouth as she yawned. Small pillows were lying on the ground in front of the tables, waiting for the guests, as well as there were plenty of places inside. Agate knew that place well, it wasn't her favourite because of it's medicore price, but it was affordable and the pillows are the most comfortable there.

"Hm?" Rarity said before she followed the hoof Agate towards the logo. The place looked gorgeous, but it was alien to her, not to mention she isn't really into eating at this time in the morning. 'But a cup of tea can't harm, right?' she thought to herself before looking at Agate. The wrinkles on her face grew definetly bigger than few minutes ago, something to eat would most likely come in handy to the armorsmith considering she was partying all night.

"Yes, I guess we can have ourselves a breakfast."

The teahouse had a cosy, warm feeling to it with it red carpet and pastel yellow walls, along with the white ceiling from where chandeliers were hanging, emitting beautiful, gentle light when ordered. There was no need for that now, however as the red, silky curtains were gently attached to the sides of the windows, letting in the sunshine from outside. Pictures of various artists decorated the walls around the square shaped small tables, with the red pillows around them.

The two mares - lead by Agate took a seat next to the window, as a waitress with a light grey coat and a blonde mane, that she wore in a bun walked up asking in a deep, gentle tone "Good morning madams! How may I help you?"

"Hello, I'd like to have aaaaa... Daisy and Rose sandwitch please, and some green tea." she replied turning to Rarity for a moment, until something caught her eye from the street, defocusing her from paying attention to the streamstress' order. It was her best Canterlotian friend: Fleur-dis-Lee.

The fashion model was walking along the street accompanied with Fancy Pants, as usually. Agate started to maniacally wave her left hoof at the direction of her, makeing Fleur take a notice of her and gently wave back with a sweet smile, forgetting about Fancy for a moment. As soon as she did though, the model rushed after her husband.

Now that she was gone, Agate got back to spend time with her other, new friend.

"How about you miss?" the waiter asked Rarity... no answer.

"Yo' Rares, you drink nothing?" joined her Agate, with a strange expression.

Rarity was too much fascinated by the wonderful place, it was simply divine. Took her a bit of a time to fall back into reality. "Hm, oh, sorry. For me just a strawberry flavored tea please.". The waitress nodded and left silently and as soon as she disappeared, Rarity jumped to the topic, while Agate was chewing on her breakfast.

"About Fleur..."

Agate patiently waited this time before replying "Yes?"

"I still can't grasp properly how you know Fleur so well, while you're so hostile towards everypony else. Actually, I thought since I know Fancy Pants well enough we might as well work together." Rarity suggested. Bad idea. Hearing those last words Agate's eyes suddenly filled with bitter coldness, with the wrinkles growing massive, her irises like freezing rays pointing at the ivory seamstress, just for a few moments only, shutting her eyes and looking away afterwards.

"You know, I have a rule: My enemies' friends are usually my enemies too, but you're an exception." she explained, turning back once again with a sweet smile in the second part.

Rarity, despite the harsh words remained friendly, but started to build a relationship-tree inside her head. She knew Agate's reation with Fancy was anything but good, but she didn't at all except this word from the armorsmith's mouth. But this raised a question she was yet to ask. Instead she decided to call a differend card from her deck.

"You know, there is an old saying: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." she told her friend, making the armorsmith even more furious inside, and that was clearly reflected on the outside as well.

"Rarity... don't ever try to push me any closer to the canterlotians. They're disgusting." she said demandingly with extra force on the 'ever'. Even though the words hurt much the seamstress as she had many friends from Canterlot, Rarity still remained calm and learnt her lesson. As the dark mistress pierced into white one's heart, they became equal and the yin and yang became in harmony again... for now.

The seamstress however didn't stop here, she still had one thing to ask after sipping into her tea. "You know I am wondering just why I am an exception to that rule."

Agate giggled at Rarity's question... well, loud wondering. "It is easy, since you're different. You don't have that Canterlotian blood he does. You can throw away your manners and get your hooves dirty when needed. You're just like Fleur, an exception that proves the rule." she explained.

The armorsmith slowly leaned towards the mare, opening her mouth slowly "I have a secret... I was there too at the Gala last year~ "

A small flashback appeared in her magenta eyes. She was walking in the hall of the ballroom in a simple, puffy white dress, filled with classier and classier ponies, chatting with each other.

"I was hiding a bottle of enchanted grafitti spray, strapped to my hind leg, hidden under the dress. Ain't nopony can scratch that stuff down once it's on. I planned on taking a revenge on Canterlot for all it have done to me."

"Do I... want to know in which positions those cans were?" Rarity spoke aloud with a disturbed look, cutting the film for a moment. Agate didn't reply, though, just continued.

"So... I was strolling in the main hall when..." Then, from out of nowhere, screams broke the noisy mumbles of everypony. _"The only thing royal about you that is you're a ROYAL PAIN!"_

"It was you, Rares." Agate explained "Screaming at that spoiled, idiotic kid Bluebood."

Rarity soaked the prince with cake, making him trip back, knocking over a statue, that a pegasus caught a second later.

"Then all hell broke loose." suddenly she became immobile, knocking off several pillars. On the top of that, from behind the back door, a horde of animals broke in, causing the possible biggest chaos one could see.

Agate shut her eyes, ending the imaginary playback in her mind "I'm not sure how, or why, but that day I felt Princess Fortuna is on my side." she finished, gently drinking up her remaining tea.

"Oh trust me, it wasn't miss Fortuna. The ponies I call my true friends caused the mess to happen. Well, mess, depends on ones point of view." she replied after watching the memory before the eyes.

"Oh yeah, the girls you ran off with first place." she recalled. "I thought they're just random ponies who had their mind-presence enough to find the exit, or were actually hearing the guards." she explained, standing up from the pillow. Only then did she realise that her limbs are weak. She was really tired, even if her brain told her otherwise, her body was begging for a rest.

"This reminds me~" she added to her conversation with Rarity "I have a wardrobe full of armors at home, maybe we should try to get one on you.

"Thank you, miss madam." she thanked to the waitress, who took her glass and plate off the table.

Rarity gave her a small nod, as well as leaving a few bits on the table as tips. A little thing she loved to do.

"Well it always worth a look I guess." Rarity shrugged as they headed outside.

"So... right now or the aftern- noooooonnn." Agate asked, but the last bit accidentally turned into a huge yawn having Rarity gape into her mouth yet again.

"Let's just say this afternoon, you really need to take a rest, darling. It is not at all healthy to stay up for this long." the ivory unicorn told the mustard one, with her voice being filled with some worry, something the olive one appreciated much.

"Yeah, now that you say... I feel I could black out anywhere. See you later, then I guess." Agate replied waving towards her before slowly taking her way home.

"We shall see one another. Just tell my name at the reception and they'll call up to my room." Rarity explained as a last sentence. Agate turned back and gave a small nod as sign that she understood, then proceeded towards her house. The way she walked was rather strange though, slow and inballanced, as she would be a bit tipsy. Rarity couldn't help but chuckle. The way her friend walked away was rather comical, but being a lady she didn't stare, rather focused on that strange feeling that mugged her while she expressed her joy silently in herself.

A few moments later she let out an enormous gasp before shouting "Sweetie Belle!". She turned around to run to see her sister, but she instantly collided with a black tuxedo, making her land on the ground.

"Well, that's not the most comfortable habit of meeting up, is it?" a gentle male voice said. One she recognized clearly.

"F-Fancy Pants?" she said quitely. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I-I didn't see you there, I just-"

"Don't bother yourself, miss Rarity. As I said before, you're most definetly a pony worth bumping into." he said jokingly, taking the incident like nothing. However the other pony with the strage movements caught her attention somewhat more. Enough for Rarity to look back.

"Pretty ludicrous a sight isn't it?" he said, still looking towards the olive coated unicorn in a distance.

"Yyyes, quite." Rarity replied, with a sort of awkward tone before turning around and running away. "I need to hurry to my sister, again, my apologies."

Fleur however kept her sight on her, like a living gargoyle on the side of an old church, only her eyes following the ivory equine.


	4. Adieu Canterlot

The afternoon arrived soon, and a meeting was in process. Rarity, regardless how much it irritated her, needed to visit Agate once again, before they could begin their journey home, to Ponyville.

Much to her surprise however, Agate was a bit of different this time. Much... better, to say so. Her mouth wasn't smelling anymore, and her set mane shown visible strokes made by hairbrush.

"Hey-ho, Rares, Sweetie! How was your day?" she asked, letting the fellows in.

"Pretty good, actually." the ivory coated replied. It filled her heart with pleasure, and most importantly, hope, that she saw her partner actually doing something with herself. She thought was time to change tactics, but she revised once again what she learned of her so far. Agate seemed to be submissive to her in certain circumstances, but despite her rough nature, she is actually pretty fragile, making Rarity try to go somewhat easier on her this time, and see what happens.

"This way, I found the perfect stuff for you Rares, I have it all set up." the mustard coated told excitedly, as she lead the other two into her bedroom. It didn't at all look like a Canterlotian bedroom however, in fact, it rather had a sort of Manehatten feeling to it. The floor was made of wood instead of the default, checkered marble, the ribbons and the silk was all stripped from the walls, the curtains and the bed, that was a casual, single bed without any sort of decoration, whatsoever. Same applied to the shelves, desks and wardrobes, simple, and wooden. Even at ponyvillian standards, this room was rather undecorated.

In the middle however stood a mannequin in a wonderful golden armor with a purple, diamond patterned textile under it. It looked amazing, yet a bit of strange and unknown for the seamstress.

"Neat, huh? I made this from a faulty armor that got rejected. Thought I could make something out of it." the armorsmith explained. Rarity stepped closer, taking a look at every of its details.

"Certainly... interesting, to say at least." Rarity told, scratching her chin. The armor was certainly amazing, even for a faulty one. It's shape was wonderful and smooth, the curls in the gold were elegant and graceful, however that thing under it... it just looked like if somepony would have took up a picnic rug on her back, then put the armor on. It certainly had potential, but not in this state.

"It fits your mane and even your cutie mark, try it on, I can't wait to see it." Agate squealed in excitement.

There was no other way, Rarity had to pick it up and feel it herself. She took off the piece from the doll and slipped her head through the hole, putting it on. The weigh made her succumb for a second, as her body was not used to this sort of fashion. but she straightened up again a few seconds later. Agate already prepared her big, rectangular mirror on the side of the room, so Rarity could take a look at herself.

The sight was... strange, to say at least. The textile was long enough the reach down to the ground a little bit, fading every part of the unicorn away.

"Rarity, the mage. So, how is it?" Agate asked, waiting for the response impatiently.

"It's... nice?" Rarity responded with a fake smile, that turned serious a moment afterwards "Okay, I'll just be honest: The armor part is brilliant, really, but this... curtain, is just terrible. I hope you don't mind." she told her friend, with an apologetic ending. The whole thing reminded her of the incident when she let her friends design their Gala clothes, namely Twilight's gigantic robe, only with some extra weigh on this one.

"It's okay..." Agate smiled back awkwardly "It was just a work in progress anyway."

"Was?" asked Sweetie Belle suddenly. It sounded as if Agate just want to abandon the entire design because of Rarity's criticism, something the seamstress also caught with her ears.

"Is! I mean is." the armorsmith corrected herself... but it seemed a bit too late for that. Rarity knew, Agate is a sensitive soul inside, and should be dealt appropriately.

Rarity gaited towards her slowly, putting her right hoof gently on Agate's back to reassure her "I think I can fix it up if you'd like to."

"I-

But in a sudden, the clock began ringing, loudly and painfully. Agate quickly shut it off with a sudden burst of magic.

"You wake up at this time?" Sweetie chuckled adorably.

"No, that's just the sign for the train, I mean the train will be here in half an hour." Agate explained with a bit of sadness echoing in her voice.

"Half an hour?!" Rarity screamed, as she took off Agate's work with the help of her unicorn magic "Okay, umm, we haven't really packed up yet, so-"

"It's alright, go ahead." Agate cut in, shutting her eyes with a little grin, just to get them both opened by the sudden move of the seamstress.

It was the time. Rarity decided that she has to reveal her plan she made for Agate, now or never. The odds were on her side, she was the puppeteer, and Agate was the doll, however, inside she hoped she didn't need to reveal this to the armorsmith. She grabbed both shoulders of the armorsmith and leaned up really close, close enough to see her own reflection in her eyes.

"However, before we set off to Ponyville, I need you to promise me something."

Agate freaked out a little bit over the sudden move, but remained standstill when she responded "Y-yes?"

"I need you... to become a lady."

"WHAT?!" screamed the armorsmith, as she forced off Rarity's hooves from herself aggressively "No way!".

A hot-headed and expectable response, but Rarity didn't want to play her joker card yet, rather just try again.

"Please, Agate. This is the only way we can win this contest, and you know that as well." she explained softly.

Agate was showing her teeth, the sheer anger and total disgust was clearly seen on her face, but yet the inconvenient truth started to gain territory on it, unnerving her completely. She had no choice, after all, Rarity could just easily let her rot here. She hated the thought of Rarity having such an upper hoof, but a sacrifice is a sacrifice. With a final sigh, she mumbled back her response: "Okay..."

"Excuse me?"

"Okay."

"Great, now that being decided, I think we'll just leave." Rarity told her, trying to get out from there as soon as possible.

"Sure... see ya." Agate responded, completely dissatisfied and grumpy. She didn't want to, not a single part of her braincells wanted to... but she had to.

"See you later, come Sweetie." the seamstress told her sister, hurrying out from the building, back to her hotel, when in the first turn that was leading out from the alley to the main road...

Fleur! As if she would have been waiting for Rarity. There was no way to get around her, though the seamstress didn't mean to do so.

"Mrs. Fleur." she greeted her, her voice filled with nervousness as she was in a great hurry.

Fleur looked serious, a face that the ivory unicorn haven't seen before. She looked like a completely different person with that expression, just putting oil on the seamstress' fiery nerves.

"Rarity." she told in a deep tone "Take care of Agate for me, please."

"Sure thing, I'll make sure-"

"No! Take care of her!" Fleur ordered "It's a feeling she haven't received but from me and maybe the guards alone. If she leaves Canterlot and can't receive it from anypony..." she explained, letting the other mare figure out the rest as she moved out from the way to let go of her.

"I see." Rarity replied, shocked and frozen in her place for a split-second "I will, Celestia be my witness." she promised, then rushed past the diva.

It was all clear now, Agate found nopony to trust and believe in but Fleur, nopony who could understand her but Fleur, and to make up for this empty space, she drinks with the only ponies she can with and she made friends herself. That's why she was calling her tools by names. She might not need the friendship of others, but deep inside, Agate was a lonely, lonely mare. As Rarity deduced this in her mind, a new emotion surfaced up towards the armorsmith inside her, an emotion she couldn't get out of her heart until they saw each other once again: Pity.

The three mares hiked up to the train, Rarity leading the way to an empty cabin with green and beige interior. Agate and Rarity took place in the comfortable seats, facing towards each other. Their eyes met for a second, then parted ways, then they met again, but disconnected. At the end both of them choose to stare out the window, observing a couple waving joyfully to someone in a different cabin. Sweetie didn't care much, she decided to just observe the happenings.

The whistle screamed in its high pitch, and a second later, the train began its journey towards Ponyville. Silence. Neither of them started a conversation for long, long seconds, even though their eyes were flirting like two young ponies. Not until from the mountain scenery, a little village was seen down in the valley, Agate's ultimate goal... a goal that needed a gigantic sacrifice.

"A lady, huh?" Agate asked "Why would you want me to be one of them?" she continued, trying to squeeze some answers from Rarity.

The ivory one faded into complete silence for seconds, before she made her reply.

"Because I'm scared."

Another long period of quiet Agate asked once again, though rather in a form of an echo "Scared..."

"Yes... scared. I'm scared that your hatred towards Canterlot along with your informal manners might cost us too much." Rarity told her, avoiding eye-contact with the other unicorn.

After long silence and gazing outside the window, Agate decided to ask one final question: "Will you help me?"

For a brief second, Rarity's pulse stopped. The way Agate just asked that, the way those words left her mouth, that determination, that passion... yet that fear in her voice. It reminded her a teddy-carrying filly afraid of heights, who tried to cross a bridge on the top of Equestria... but couldn't face it alone.

"With everything I can." Rarity nodded with a sweet smile, however her eyes told that she wasn't finished with that sentence. _'...I just hope it's going to be enough.'_

A little bit of more silence, as the two smiling ponies gazed over the little village once again. Now that the serious business was over, the general mood around them became much less tense, and more happy. It was time to relax and enjoy the ride from that point, everything was back on the right track from now.

"Anything particular I should know about Ponyville's folks?" she asked in curiosity.

Rarity chuckled gently at the question, as something in topic struck her mind like lightning "They're pretty paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Agate asked raising one of her eyebrows in curiosity.

"Oh, I was actually just thinking about it somehow, that was that one incident with Zecora, a zebra inhabitant, they considered her evil and spread rumors that were obviously unknown until the entire town began fearing her. The oil on the fire was though that she- Ah!" she gasped, as everything turned pitch black in the middle of her sentence.

"Nah, it's just the cave. So she was what? A demon or something?" Agate calmed her fellow.

"So, as I said what made it worse that she was living in the Everfree Forest, would you kindly stop tapping my back?" she asked in her annoyance.

"It was not me, the ghosts of the cave are calling you."

the armorsmith replied, only to have her cover blown by the light of the sun, as the machine left the cavern, revealing her hoof on Rarity's shoulder.

"Agate... please..." Rarity told in a gentle manner, as she took Agate's right hoof and slowly took it off herself. She felt as it was her turn however and took her opportunity "So, tell me where are these disagreements with Fancy Pants come from?".

"It's pretty simple, let me tell you." the mustard coated leaned closer "Fancy is someone with too much power and too little brains, its impossible to fulfill his endless hunger for fancy stuff, even though he doesn't realize it. Out of all canterlotians I've met, he's the worst. Let's not talk about him, though, I'm glad I got rid of him for now." Agate waved her hoof to avoid the topic she hated so much. It was time for Ponyville now, time to relax and forget all the stress she gathered up, and Rarity could understand that well enough.

It seemed as the two could get along well, but their relationship was dancing on the edge of a blade. One bad decision, and who knows what might happen.

Another series of seconds passed in complete silence, even longer than the ones before. Agate set a yawn free moaning "Gah, that's so boring! I wish I'd have brought a game or something.". Her body extended along the beige seat as she laid down in boredom.

Rarity just sat there, even though the boredom reached her as well, she didn't allow it to take control, she was a lady after all. However something odd caught her attention from the side.

"Sweetie Belle!" she screamed, as her heart jumped in fright. Her sister disappeared. How could this happen?

"Guess she just went to the toilet or something, chill out." Agate replied maybe a bit too calmly even.

"You've seen her and didn't even think of telling me?!" Rarity screamed, jumping off the seat and running towards the cabin next to theirs. She wasn't there... The stress gave the seamstress shivers as she ran to the next cabin, seeing a door being closed on the other side by a white hoof. There was light in the end of the tunnel, after all.

"Sweetie! Sweetie Belle!" she shouted, rushing to the door and slamming it open with a burst of her magic. The hoof closing the entrance of the next wagon was there again, but it couldn't escape this time, for sure.

"Not so fast missy!" Rarity screamed, grabbing the limb as the door opened. However the next moment was an utter shock to her, for the hoof's host was not her sister, in fact, it wasn't a filly even, but a mare with a blue mane she wore in a bob cut.

"C-can I help you?" she asked in fright. Rarity let go of her leg in an instant, as her face filled up with the red color of embarrassment.

"Excuse me, I'm terribly sorry, I was just looking for my sister and I didn't really think ahead." she apologized, melding her sentence into a question. "Please, have you seen her, she's short, white coat and curly, light purple mane."

The stranger shook her head gently, for Rarity's shame. All hope seemed to be lost, but she still gazed over the mare to see if the rest of the cabin hides her, with no success. The mare put her hoof on the shoulders of the seamstress.

"I'll make sure to tell you if I notice her."

"Coco!" A voice shouted up from a seat behind. The mare, imbued with fear turned back and ran to the nearest little box separated from the narrow corridor. "What are you doing? I told you not to chit-chat with strangers, 'mkay?"

Rarity didn't pay attention anymore, her angst turned into sadness that began burning her heart like acid. She felt she is the most horrible, irresponsible sister in Equestria. She turned back and began walking back to their carriage slowly, her eyes staring at carpet that moved backwards as she traveled, until a white obstacle made her stop for a second.

"Something's wrong sis?" it said, knocking Rarity back to reality.

"Sweetie!" she shouted.

"You ran off the wrong way, Rares. I found her looking at the map-thing in the other cabin." Agate explained, turning to the filly "Should have told, though, ponyvillians tend to overreact certain things." she chuckled. This little poking however flew past Rarity as she was glad to be reunited with her sister, who they shared a warm hug with before heading back.

"Don't you dare doing this again!" She told the filly the way back, as Agate lead the way, until in a sudden moment, she stopped by a window, whereas the others were to sit back on their places.

The grassy scenery that passed by so fast began slowing down.

"Wait, we're stopping?" she asked. The train was slowing down, indeed, even though no signs of a town nearby was seen. Eventually the machine stopped.

Steps were heard from the other wagons, getting louder and louder as it got closer rapidly.

"Shhh! It's Fury Nancy." hushed Agate the other unicorns, as she jumped back to her seat before the door suddenly smashed open, hitting the wood on its side. A grey-black mare in a checkered hat and a uniform charged in the room, stomping her way through the cabin. Her face searing hot from the anger, as she passed by the poker-faced Agate and Rarity. For first, the seamstress wanted to ask for a reason for the train's sudden stop, but seeing that face of wrath, she passed it. As Fury smashed the door behind her, Agate finally could let that huge grin grow on her face, as she wagged her eyebrows up and down.

"Do you know her, by any chance?" Rarity asked.

"No, but I call her Fury Nancy, because she is always furious." Agate replied with a chuckle. "Come, let's see what's happening." she added, standing up and strolling towards the door the staff member just left through, Rarity and Sweetie Belle following her.

The little room next to their cabin was much smaller, with a door leading outside, as well as another one leading to the other cabin. Agate leaped down the train with a hop, while the other mare simply walked down in her own pace. The other travelers waited outside as well by then, yet the reason was still unknown, until the motorpony called for attention.

"Attention everypony! Attention please! It seems that the engine broke down, which means we have to take the way to the next town by hoof."

Everyone froze solid for a second, before the stallion continued "The closest town is Dodge Junction, it is only half an hour away from here."

"Thirty minutes?" questioned back Rarity as her eye twitched. "Also, Dodge Junction?" she continued. So much walking with all these luggages and in this dirty land was certainly the last thing she wanted to do, not to mention that towards the dusty old town she never really fancied.

"Guess he meant thirty minutes by train, or-"

"What?!" screamed Rarity, covering her mouth right after in embarrassment. That much time by train meant forever by foot, for her at least "Agate, that's bad even for a joke." she replied.

Agate took a look at the sun that began settling slowly, calculating absolute nonsense in her head. "If we get going now, we can get there before sundown."

Rarity rolled her eyes and with a puffed up tone she gaited past the other unicorn "Then we shouldn't waste our time, should we?" she asked, leading the way along the train to get their luggage. As her horn charged up she let the inspector opened up the lower storage of the machine, where the luggage were held. Since theirs were put in last, it was relatively easy to take them out, Rarity taking her white-blue, well-adorned, then Agate her three old-looking brown ones. However neither of them chose to carry them by their hooves or mouth, but with their magic. There was no time to waste, and there was no other option, they had to leave the train behind.

"This is so exciting!" said Sweetie, who seemed to be quiet happy about this little adventure, unlike Rarity, who couldn't help but respond in a negative way.

"Much more of a burden if you ask me." she moaned with a deep inhale as the unicorns set their way along the railroad.

"You tired? I can carry that for you." Agate responded, seeing her friend stopping to take a little break. Rarity's pretty bag let go of its blue aura as it became surrounded by a purple one. Even though Agate took over her item by force, without asking any confirmation whatsoever, the ivory coated still felt a bit grateful for the gesture.

"Why thank you. It's really kind of you." she told her. It was pretty impressive seeing Agate carry four full luggage as they were mere feathers.

"That's quite an exceptional strength of magic you got." she complimented.

"Cool, huh? Since the stuff I work with are heavy I can lift much heavier stuff than others." the mustard colored mare replied, as she wiped a little sweat from her forehead. Her vocabulary was irking Rarity, but she could stand it... for now.

The grass became more of a rare sight the more they were walking, eventually turning the scenery to a desert.

"Uh, dirt." the ivory coated said with foaming disgust. She hated it, she hated dirt and germs more than anything, except maybe spiders.

"It doesn't bite or anything, I'm sure you'll survive." Agate replied in a low pitch, much of the annoyance of Rarity.

"Ooh, now you're asking for it, missy." she whispered in herself. Things began to heat up around them, both mentally and literally, as the savanna became warmer and warmer. However, in a distance the goal was already seen, a small, western-like town.

It looked so close yet it was so far. The sand and the heat seemed to be more and more unbearable as they arrived, making the strolling more of a difficulty.

"Dodge Junction." shouted Agate, rearing up as the road wouldn't even have touched her energy, even though she was sweating. The feeling of hard wood of the train station somehow felt so fine after the soft sand. Agate discharged some energy of her horn, to drop off her luggage, however she messed it up. Two brown and a white pack hit the floor hard while another brown stayed inside her grasp.

"Oops..." she said as noticed her mistake. Rarity screamed, making her way to her once beautiful package as a juggernaut. She picked it up wiping the dust off its wonderful, white texture when she noticed it. A scratch! A scratch on the blue plastic diamond in the middle! Disaster! There is no way it can show its true glory again.

"I'm sorry Rares, I kinda mixed them up." Agate apologized, scratching the back of her head.

Rarity let out a subtle sigh as she turned towards her partner "It's okay..." She paused for a second, before lifting her head up. Sacrifices must be made and she had to carry on. "I'll check the schedule then, mind you bring us some water, it should be simple enough... even for you.". Though the words were slightly hurtful, Rarity knew that well enough. An eye for an eye after all. However it seemed to bounce off Agate, who just smirked a little and walked away to fetch some drink. It was slightly annoying to the ivory one, she felt as she would have just tried to insult a brick wall.

Rarity's eyes turned to the wooden board with times written up with white paint, only for a second, when a carriage pulled by four stallions drove off from her right, creating an enormous cloud of dust. Despite that, the fact the they were heading towards the exact same direction they came from was planting seeds of relief in the mare's heart.

"Yo Rares!" Agate screamed, with three wooden cups of water levitating next to her. "I got these from a pub nearby, gotta bring the cups back though." she added, giving one of them to her friend and the other one to the filly. A smile took over Rarity's face, as she heard the news, and after a small thanks she took a gulp of the water. Her smile turned into a frown, however.

"Uh, it's warm. Well, it'll keep us from dehydration at least." she noted, drinking up the rest. Agate already finished it by then, and was waiting for the other unicorns.

"'xcuse me, anything happened with the train?" a voice said from behind the ivory coated. "There's a lot of strange folk here in a sudden."

"Yeah, it burnt out like a cheap candle." the mustard coated said with a sly smile, as Rarity lowered her cup and gulped.

"Agate!" she whispered furiously, turning around to give a proper reply "Its engine broke down, that's all. I've seen the supply carriage leaving however, it may arrive in few minutes.".

"Oh shucks! Thank you anyway... have we met?" the other pony responded. Her mane was fancy and red as a ruby, while her coat was light olive. A cherry adorned her rump. Of course, she remembered her now, the memories struck the unicorn like lightning.

"Cherry Jubilee, correct? I was working at your cherry farm for a short time." Rarity asked her. While it wasn't the best of the memories she loved to recall, it was indeed hard to forget that time when they chased their farmer friend all around the desert, and the way home with Pinkie Pie, something she hoped would not repeat with Agate.

"Oh yeah, the Apple girl's friend, I got it now!" Jubilee shouted "Came back for some extra bits?" she asked seductively. Yes, she looked exactly like the kind of woman who'd take an advantage of her charm, just like Rarity would.

"No thank you, we're on our way home." Rarity declined politely.

"Fine dear, then how about some cherry pie? That train might take a long time to get geared up." Jubilee responded with a wink, putting extra emphasis on the "long", but she failed convince the seamstress.

"She is right, actually." Agate noted. Sweetie also seemed to approve the idea. She gazed over to the Sun that only peeked out from behind the dunes for a few seconds, waiting for her response.

"I guess we can afford a little visit then, if it doesn't mean any trouble to you." Rarity replied, though she wasn't too pleased with her decision.

"Oh, why on Earth would it be?" Cherry responded as she rolled her eyes with a little wave of her left hoof.

"Yay!" screamed Sweetie Belle. Considering she never ate cherry pie before, she thought if Applejack's apple pies were awesome, then Cherry's cherry pies should be so as well.

"How is your cherry business doing, may I ask?" Rarity questioned, as she lead the way with Ms Jubilee towards their home.

"Pretty good." she answered "Ponies often turn up here for some quick bits, so I always have fresh workforce." she explained with a joyful melody in her voice. "Here we are fellows, Cherry Ranch." she shouted to the ones behind them.

"Well, this was quick." Agate noted.

"Dodge Junction is a small town, everypony knows everypony here, so we all know an outsider when we see one." the earth pony giggled softly, pushing in the door of her home.

"I'm back sweetie!" she shouted, making a light golden coated mare appear from the top of the staircase. Her mane was hot pink, and she wore in quite a similar style than the cherry pony.

"Whoa, this soon? Got some problems, mom?" she asked, receiving a light shake from the lady's head, making her turn her head to the other mares "How 'bout you, here to work?" she asked again.

Her voice had that rough, countryside accent, mildly spiced with sass, perfectly matching her wicked, but inviting look that Agate noticed soon enough. She was walking down those stairs as she was showing off herself on the streets, elegantly, but not too much like a lady.

"Nah, just got invited while the train gets its repairs, poor thing broke down on the way from Canterlot." Agate replied, trying to take on the awesome, rough tone and this country style she liked more and more every second.

"Dinner's ready girls!" a voice shouted from the room from their right.

"Yes, mum!" the girl screamed back on the top of her lungs, turning back to the other two "We gon' discuss it at the table, today's dinner is cherry pie... again."

"Please, lead the way." Rarity asked politely. The girls walked over to the kitchen, a beautiful, yet simple one of wood and red paint dancing elegantly across it.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself, how rude of me." The pink maned pony said in a surprised tone. "Name's Cherry Milleny." she added, raising her hoof as a start of a co-operative gesture.

"I'm Agate." the mustard coated greeted, shaking her hoof with a powerful grab, that Milleny didn't leave without response. It was on now, the battle began. Both their faces grew a wicked grin as they tried to constrain their limbs until somepony gave in. However, it didn't last long, three gentle shakes and it ended already, in a draw.

"I'm Rarity." extended her right the ivory one. Their shake was a gentle autumn breeze, as Rarity's limb had a soft, but still noticeable grasp over Milleny's hoof.

"I'm Sweetie Belle!" the smallest one shouted, wanting her turn badly, making the earth pony smile and let go of Rarity's hoof to gently make contact with the filly's.

Jubilee already brought a few more red pillows by then, as well as the beautiful dinner that was steaming on the table, hot and delicious.

"Good appetite, everypony." she said, as the others sat down, thanking her collectively. Rarity and Agate took their knives, and took a slice for themselves and Sweetie, while the earth ponies decided to be the last ones.

"So, where y'all from?" the younger Cherry asked.

Agate took the entire slice she stabbed onto her fork away from her mouth to reply. "I'm from Canterlot." she said with ease, then devoured the whole part she took.

Rarity swallowed the piece that was in her mouth and answered "I came from Ponyville." she replied with a calm voice.

Milleny was completely in shock. "Well, hit me with an ice cream cone and call me a unicorn, you looked exactly the opposite."

"Yes, it is quite ironic if you ask me." the ivory coated chuckled gently.

"Wait, wait, wait." Agate told in a sudden moment, as she realized something "So if this is a ranch, then you grow the cherries, right?"

"We sure do, honey." giggled back Jubilee with a lighthearted smile.

"Cool! A farm in the middle of a desert, that's so awesome." the mustard one said completely overran by excitement, that got even more intense when Milleny replied.

"Hey, we can head out 'n buck some trees if you wanna see it yourself."

"Yes! Yes, please."

The enthusiasm of Agate caught Rarity off guard, though, now that she thought about it, Agate was from Canterlot, where one doesn't even think about doing such manual work. The little cherry gazed over to her mother, who gave firm nod with a gentle smile as an approval, making the young one turn back to the mustard mare.

"This way, city gal." Milleny stood up, leading the girl out to the field, while the others ate their dinner.

The cherry trees were blooming wonderfully in the little oasis they grew in, all having beautiful fruits adorning them in golden, emerald and ruby colors.

"Wooow." Agate told in awe "You can't see this in the concrete jungle. It's beautiful. There are even yellow and green ones." Agate always thought of the cherries as red, for the only ones she saw in the capital's market were red.

"Never seen those kind? Pick yourself a few if you wanna try."

Agate gasped in delight and sprinted to the nearest golden cherry tree, rearing up on her hinds to reach for the fruits. They were too high for her however, requiring to unicorn to stretch her body for as long as she possibly could. She always wanted to try this, but there were no trees whatsoever up in where she lived, other than those in the parks, of course.

"Well, that was glorious." Rarity complimented, after cleaning her mouth gently with the napkin on her right. "Thank you very much."

"You're ever so welcome." chuckled back Mrs. Jubilee "Come, let's see what the others are up to."

As they strolled into the garden, however, Rarity had to face possibly one of the weirdest sight she ever seen.

'What in Celestia's name is that pony doing?' she thought, standing there completely baffled. Why would an unicorn out of all species want to take something out of reach with her hoof. The mustard coated however still didn't give up, she tried to jump for it, but caught nothing but air, or only slapped a few leaves gently. Rarity simply wrote her down as an idiot.

"It would be much easier if you'd use your horn instead, don't you think?." she advised to her partner with a weirded out face.

"I know, but I'm close, that's like admitting defeat." Agate replied as she jumped for the gold once again, with no success.

Rarity smacked her face into her hoof, then proceeded towards the other side of the tree, nicely and slowly. She stretched out her hinds a little bit, transferred her body mass to her frontal limbs, and hit the tree with a powerful kick. Before even being able to let out a sound, the cherries, like golden pellets began showering the mustard coated unicorn's face. Two dizzy steps back with her front hooves above her head and she fell on her back already.

Rarity was more than satisfied by the results. Even though it was against her nature, it felt sort of good pranking Agate like that. A sudden whistle heard from afar interrupted her line of thoughts as second later, a whistle they both recognized.

"The train!" they shouted. It was coming this way, they must have repaired it. All of them knew what that meant, the two unicorns hurried back to the others to bid a quick farewell, as missing this one was something they couldn't afford now that the sky on the west slowly sacrificed its entire territory to the east.

"Thank you so much for everything." Rarity told Jubilee as they hurried through the backyard into the kitchen.

"As I said you're always welcome." repeated herself the earth pony with a generous smile.

Agate meanwhile said goodbye to the other farmer "I like your style, we should totes hang sometime.".

"Just peak in when you have time." replied Milleny with a sassy wink as she added "Now get that train before it goes wild!"

"Sweetie Belle?" asked out Rarity her sister who appeared in that second this time, her face mucky with the cherry pie. Rarity grabbed the filly and nearest paper towel and quickly erased the dirt.

"Wait, sis, can we bring some-"

"No!" Rarity cut in, as she levitated her sister while the two mares rushed down the street, Agate carrying the luggage.

The train was already blowing its whistle, signing that its the last chance. It seemed so far yet it was so close, yet they only realized that once they were inside. Rarity put down her sister, and after some wheezing and setting her mane, she showed her ticket to the inspector, while Agate took the luggage in. It was not the same train, however, for this was a nightly train, with its cabins being a cluster of beds. Its red curtains and wooden furniture gave it a warm and cozy feeling. Rarity took the closest on on her left, then laid down her packs so they would line up as a wall before the curtain.

"Finally, I hope there won't be any trouble now, this was way too much adventure for a day." she said, as her ivory body took place in the little bed facing just towards Agate's.

She looked outside the window, watching the crescent of the Moon rising higher and higher, until her focus targeted her own reflection, something she wasn't too pleased with. "My eyes are surrounded by wrinkles as well, so gross." she told herself, letting a yawn out as she laid down next to her sister.

"Well, good night girls." she added as she laid down. The bed was not as comfortable as hers at home, plus the fact that somepony else have surely used it just added to it, but at the moment it was her only choice. Sweetie murmured back something, while a whisper responded from her left.

"I won't sleep yet, but yeah, night Rares!"

It took Rarity a few moments to fall asleep, but then Agate called her again.

"Hey! Rares! Wake up damsel girl, we're here." she poked her friend, then helped her on her hooves as Rarity still felt sort of tired. Looking out the window the familiar scenery of Ponyville greeted her. Rarity picked up her still sleeping sister, and began to move. The night wasn't as cold as it supposed to be in the middle of spring, but that wasn't a problem. Sweetie Belle kept snoring regardless of all this, and that kind of moved the seamstress. Even Agate admired her innocence a bit from the side. Tired from the long journey they finally arrived their home, the Carousel Boutique, that was by sheer luck just a few minutes away from the train station.

Rarity sighed "I must have a shower, who knows who else slept in those bedsheets. Agate, could you take Sweetie Belle to her bedroom? Come I'll show you the way." she whispered as she was about to turn the lights on, but changed her mind instead.

"I'm not really happy she goes to bed like that, but at most I'll take her bedsheets to the laundry tomorrow." Rarity confessed the way upwards.

They walked upstairs, where a narrow corridor with five doors awaited them, one was the living room Agate already knew, one was the fillies' room, the other three was a mystery. Rarity pointed at the one in the far right, Sweetie's bedroom. Agate snuck in, and with the help of the little light she received from opening the door, she located the bed. She gently laid the filly down and moved out, silently closing the door.

Meanwhile Rarity began to fill her bathtub with nice, hot water. Humming a sweet song while looking at the clean, steaming hot, transparent liquid filling up the beautiful white tub. After she was satisfied with the quantity, she took a little dip into it, then slowly her whole left hoof, right afterwards she stepped in with the other three as well. After slowly and carefully letting her entire body become swallowed by the water, she turned on her backside and with a relaxing sound leaving her mouth.

As soon as the stress of the day started to leave her relaxed body and mind though, the doorknob twisted.

"Hey Rares!" said Agate charging in, making the white pony jump from shock with a shriek as she tried to hide her chest behind her hooves (for no reason whatsoever). The quick move made the steaming hot water splash all over the place, including Agate's face, who also began to scream, attempting to rub off the burning feeling.

"Haven't you learned to knock before coming in?!" Rarity asked madly, yet her voice still remaining sort of ladylike as she didn't want to wake up Sweetie Belle, if they haven't already managed to do so.

Agate, as soon as she manage to get rid of the horrible burning feeling replied "Sorry, I didn't know you're here. It was an accident."

Rarity was not impressed by the answer the least "I just told you two minutes ago, and who else could possibly take a bath in the middle of the night. Not to mention you broke in calling my name, even." she told the other one with a fierce look towards her newfound partner who just shrugged it off.

"Okay, I lied, I knew. I just wanted to ask you where the bedroom is." Agate replied like it'd be nothing.

"Second door to left. Now, if you insist..." Rarity replied angrily, letting her body gently lay back in the hot tub again.

"Okay, sure. Thanks anyway." rolled the other one her eyes, leaving the bathroom.

The angered seamstress huffed as the other one closed the door. What an inconsiderate beast, Agate seemed as she was aiming to get the best of her, but not from this mare, for sure. Regardless, Rarity wasn't really able to relax again as she laid back into her slightly less hotter water, especially when she came to realization.

"Oh my... does she want to...?!" she sat up with a quick move, and like one who noticed she's late to catch the bus crawled out from the tub.

"Ah, uh, careful." she said, trying not to slip on the marvel floor as she quickly dried her hooves, twisting the towel around her body and rushing to her room, but it was too late...

Agate was already sleeping... on her bed. In a strange position she lied there, on the wrong axis, not even using nor the pillows or blankets. It gave her the impression as she'd just had jumped on her bed and instantly had fallen asleep.

Rarity's eyes twitched, both from disgust and sheer anger. Yet she wasn't able to walk up and wake her up, as Agate was the guest here after all. Instead she just left her room, walked into the living room, laid down on her couch and with a shivering body and a bit tear eyes she asked the mightier powers "Celestia, what did I get myself into?". Rarity regretted everything now, she wanted to quit this whole contest-thing and just get back to her normal life. Agate was a curse to her, she was sure of it now, someone cursed her, but she didn't really know who to blame.

She tried to fall asleep, she tried every possible position but it was impossible for her to reach the land of the dreams. A voice was heard from behind however.

"Hey, hey! I'm waiting for you upstairs and you're nowhere, is something wrong?" it said. It was Agate.

"Wrong?! Oh, no! Nothing is wrong at all, darling." turned back Rarity. Her face and her voice told everything, she snapped. It was a bit too much sarcastic, and didn't mask her fury properly.

Agate slowly walked up to her "Look, about the bed thing. I'm really sorry, I planned it as a little joke." she said, this time with a different, more sincere tone. It was way different than her usual, more sad and apologetic. "I wanted to check your room out, and when I saw that awesome bed I thought we could sleep together or something. That's where the idea came from, I just didn't notice you left the room."

Rarity didn't really know what to say at first, but a few moments later she replied with the simple sentence of "That's okay."

"Mind you, I'm going to take a quick bath too, okay? Then we do whatever you please." Agate replied... completely turned out from her usual self, as some strange power would have posessed her.

"Okay, sure, go ahead." answered Rarity, still in complete shock in what happened. Maybe Agate is a little mischievous, but not evil and respects others. If only a little, but Rarity was sort of relieved by this. Maybe it didn't seem that impossible to make a lady out of this mare after all.


	5. So what's the plan?

"Yes... I'd like a Maretini, Miss Sapphire... shaken... not stirred." Rarity mumbled, with a little chuckle afterwards "Yes, I did read it... long ago.".

Her smile however turned into an uncomfortable frown afterwards "The music seems a bit off, don't you think?" she asked, after all, this sort of electronic was not an usual genre in a bar. It wasn't only off but loud as well, loud enough to get Rarity rose her body up, as she woke back to reality. She still couldn't see a thing since the shades were covering her eyes, so with a quick move of her hooves she removed them. She rubbed her eyelids as the sudden light was sort of irritating, but no less than the noise coming from outside. It seemed to come from the kitchen. Her weak body poured down from her bed as she took off to find the thing that disturbed her sleep. She gaited towards the exact source, the kitchen, as the sounds got louder and louder. Chops and stomps were heard from behind the door, matching the rhythm of the sounds.

'_Agate!'_ she thought in herself in an angered voice, but her mind quickly changed when she saw a tail of dark blue whipping into her field of view as she opened the door slowly. In an instant she backed away, leaning towards the wall. Who was that?! Her unconscious quickly threw an image of Sapphire Shores into her mind, but it was not her, for the diva had a curly tail, unlike the flat one she saw. Vinyl Scratch, perhaps? Her thoughts gone wild, someone was doing something in her kitchen, but who? What? Why? Suddenly the music shut off and door opened.

"Yo, Rares! Morning!" a familiar voice told her.

"Agate?!" Rarity replied in shock. It was, indeed, the armorsmith, except that she had a blue mane and tail. But, how? "Your mane... is blue."

The mustard coated grabbed the very closest tip of her mane with her hoof and dragged it into her field of view for some reason. "Oh yeah, it is. I dyed it myself this morning."

"Well, it is certainly interesting, but may I ask what was all this noisemaking for?" the ivory one replied, almost shouting in fury.

"Oh, this? I was just making some, uh, stuff to eat." the armorsmith replied dragging a dish with a few well-done sandwiches, all filled with various goods, hay, grass, vegetables, flowers, all that two slices of bread could handle.

Even though she was angry, this small surprise calmed the spirit of the seamstress... a little. Still, she remained who she was.

"I'm humbled by this little gesture, I really am, but last time I checked I didn't need unbearably loud music to make my breakfast."

"Yeah, sure, if you like it the boring way, then go for the boring way." Agate replied "However, I can't do anything without listening to something."

"Then, if you don't mind, how about turning down the volume so our eardrums won't catch on fire?" Rarity asked politely.

"Alright, fine..." rolled her eyes the other one, as she turned around and placed back the dishes on the table where they were originally.

"I'm glad we came to this conclusion, now that we brought it up, how did you dye your mane like that?" Rarity asked in a curious manner. It was very strange, indeed, somepony just dyeing her mane so perfectly in one morning.

"Ink gems." Agate turned back at her with a wink, as she prepared the breakfast on the table next to her. The armorsmith had every little shelf around open by the time, so wouldn't have to look into them individually again and again.

"Ink gems?" the ivory repeated "Those are extremely rare kind, how did you even get a hold on them?". Ink gems were indeed special ones, they were able to change the color of certain items, painting them over on contact and certain amount of magical energy infused. Such jewel was distinguishable by the liquid that was flowing inside it.

"Well, yeah, if you're talking about those crystal clear, super-fancy ones where you can see the ink, yeah, those are worth a decent sum, but the lesser, common ones like lapis or garnet, they're quite cheap when they're raw, especially from ponies who don't know what they're selling." the other unicorn explained, as they took place at the tables.

Lazuli and garnet, gemstones that Rarity didn't even, in her wildest dreams decided to even take out from the ground, for her standards was way above such common litter when it came to making dresses. She took a bite of the food her friend made her and it was...

"Hmmm... Pretty decent, though I think you went a bit too far with the mustard." Rarity thought as she opened up the chest of bread to see what's inside. She never was that kind of mare whose tongue enjoyed the spicy taste, despite her words often had that kind of flavor, but it wasn't remotely close to being unbearable to her. Agate on the other hoof devoured it with great pleasure, figured she can take it without difficulties.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

Rarity became confused for a moment, but she knew the topic well after her mind reminded her about it "Plan? Oh, right. I haven't come up with anything so far, to tell the truth, how about you?"

"I actually have something, I think its kinda cool." Agate replied. Despite that, Rarity knew her well and was ready to hear the craziest of the craziest.

"I thought that we should just draw a bunch of stuff and then choose our favorite." the unicorn laid it out with some gentle moves of her hooves.

"That's... a rather fine idea, actually." Rarity replied in a rather shocked tone. Who would expect her friend to come up with something that's not half bad... or half mad.

"Afterwards, we can dye your mane as well." Agate giggled, watching the ivory coated take the rest of her breakfast, gently cleaning her mouth that already looked clean.

"This reminds me, I need to settle some things with a friend of mine here, she will be surely a great help in turning you into a lady." Rarity told her as she took a glance to the upper left corner, a place her eyes favored stashing the memories. "Until then, why not take a look around in town?".

"Yeah, good idea, I should look for a real estate agent or something now that you mention it." Agate replied, looking out the window.

Rarity lowered her eyebrow hearing the words "That early? Aren't you taking this a bit too lightly?"

"I have to plan forward if I need to move out as quickly as I can." Agate replied. She seemed so sure of the victory, one would say she was blinded by confidence.

Rarity was not pleased with this attitude in the slightest, but settled with the thought as she didn't want to demotivate Agate just at the start, regarding the risks of her ego taking off from the ground.

"Very well then." Rarity told her, as she raised her body from the pillow. She took her dish with a gentle breeze of magic and cleaned it under the sink before putting it away, Agate doing after her repeating all steps exactly the same way, with a huge grin afterwards.

"Good." Rarity smiled, finally Agate suddenly grew manners out of thin air "I got to see Octavia, then, hopefully she has some free time."

"Octavia? That cello-playing little..." Agate shouted without consideration.

"Little what?" Rarity asked in response as a counter move, hitting Agate hard.

"...nothing." Agate groaned under her muzzle.

"Now listen up! You can trash-talk about me, you can trash-talk about my things, but do not ever dare to trash-talk about my friends, understood?!" Rarity lectured her partner who groaned with disgust.

"By the way, Octavia moved here for a roughly same reason, so you may think twice next time before you open your filthy mouth." the ivory one huffed, as she was about to leave the room "Now, if you excuse me..."

Agate rolled her eyes and strolled back to the bathroom upstairs. She took a look into the mirror and hummed "Maybe green should have been better?"

Rarity's powerful stomps became gentle steps along the way to Tavia's home. If her partner's manners alone would have been the only problem, but the thing that annoyed her to no end was the illusion of her actually learning to behave. Hope, that was crushed with a single blow. It was art what the smith was doing.

A strange noise twitched her ear as she knocked on the door, which became a loud noise of a bass kicking as the door opened. It was Octavia, her mane grey and beautiful as always, her face filled with grace, her eyes so... tired? Anyhow, she smiled as the white unicorn showed up.

"Greetings, Miss Rarity. What brings you here?" she told her, screaming skywards afterwards "Vinyl, could you shut it off for a while?"

"A moment, I'm just putting together this beat." A voice shouted back followed by a second of rampaging disco music that came and went like lightning. "Oops! I dropped it. Hahahaha!" she laughed.

Octavia, not knowing what now, simply hit her head at the wall to her right with a groan.

"Vinyl seems pretty jovial today." Rarity noted with a little but still awkward smile.

"She makes the same joke over and over again and still finds it funny for some reason." Octavia sighed as she let her friend in, taking her to the guestroom. One time her friend was a curse, yet a blessing in the other. Octavia and Vinyl was living here for quite a while, as two flatmates, and while they don't have the money to move to different houses yet, it doesn't really bother them... well, most of the time. Still, the duo is quite famous for their hassles from time to time.

"So what it is, I'll gladly play some chords if it moves your inspiration." the earth pony smiled. Whenever Rarity wanted to create something productive but the inspiration refused to came even after she kept watching the world come and go, she laid back and listened to the beautiful melody of the bass.

"No, not this time. I'd need your help with a friend of mine." the unicorn replied as her mind started to cringe at the word "friend".

"Yes?"

"She'd like to develop some manners of a lady, since she has very little and she is living in Canterlot." the ivory coated explained. Though of course, this was a lie, but the unicorn had the skill of deception and could make it look legit without problems.

Octavia raised her eyebrow on her left "Is her name Agate by any chance?" she asked.

_'I should have known.'_ Rarity thought, realizing her plan of keeping her friend's true identity a secret failed. It seemed as the entire Canterlot would have a bounty on her head. There was no other choice now, she had to flow with the current. "Yes."

"I'm afraid I can't help you." Octavia thought in as her eyes shut with a loud echo of a steel door hitting the ground from above, as she sat down on a small pillow in the room.

The answer came completely unexpected for the unicorn. It was so blunt and straightforward, she never heard Octavia refusing anything like this before.

"What? Why not?"

"I recognize an impossible task when I see one, Miss Rarity." Tavia told her.

However Rarity didn't took no for an answer, especially from Octavia "You could keep Vinyl on a leash so far, you have much more experience in the topic.".

Octavia turned her back to the unicorn "She is enough stress me a day, I need no more, especially not that... I mean especially not Agate."

Rarity lowered her eyebrows, she hates such primitive behavior like calling each other names, there was something so infuriating in it to her. She refused to sit down in front of her, rather stood if needed.

"Agate also played this card this morning, hopefully I don't need to repeat myself. Is there something specific that bothers you about her?" Rarity asked.

"It's... nothing." she replied, her face completely red from all the anger that was ready to erupt like a volcano in any second. "Just bring her here, I have a few things to discuss with her. But not today please." she continued.

Rarity looked somewhat more delighted "Can I take it as a yes, then?"

"It depends, I have to see her myself." the bassist said, now in a more calm tone than before, as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

Rarity nodded with a warm smile and decided to drop the hot topic now that it was decided.

"Anyhow, have you heard about Lovesick's big Equestria 3 tour?" she asked.

"Ah, yeah. It must have been a tough decision to reveal herself in public after so many years. But again, with those rumors floating around, I can understand. Poor girl." Octavia replied as she took two glasses out from the shelf nearby, with a bit of the usual wine to spice the conversation.

In the meanwhile, Agate was strolling around the town her mane now, boasting with a pale red color instead.

"Rose, there you are." a calm voice of a stallion slapped her ear as a hoof touched her spine.

"Yo, what's up?" she told the stranger, revealing something the stallion didn't expect, a horn. He had a coat of brown with a darker shade in his mane, as well as he wore a very elegant, green necktie.

Only afterwards he noticed the ribbons and the gem."Oh, excuse me, I must have been mistaken." he apologized with a red face.

"Nah, it's fine, it didn't hurt. Though not knowing how your marefriend looks like is pretty naff... just saying." Agate note with a bit sour voice "I'm Agate, by the way." she introduced herself, reaching out with her hoof that the stallion gladly accepted.

"Name is Time Turner, I set and repair the clocks around the town." he responded, shaking hoof with the mare gently when from behind he noticed her... and she had a clear sign of disturbance in her eyes. It was the time he thought the small mistake he made is going to lead him to his doom.

He dropped Agate's hoof with a short "Excuse me." and ran to her mare. "Oh hi Rose."

"Timey?"

Agate also looked back to see the actual marefriend. The sight made her jaw drop with a huge smile.

"You know what? I take that back, I can't blame you for mistaking me with her." Agate giggled loudly. Rose had a coat of very light beige and a pale scarlet mane that looked absolutely like Agate's. "We're like carbon copies of each other." she added.

"Huh? No, we don't even look similar." Rose denied "My coat is much lighter than yours." she pointed out, reaching out her hoof to compare it with the other mares. Though it was indeed a difference, it didn't seem too significant.

"Rose, this is Agate, Agate this is Rose." Time explained, now that the two girls were holding each other's hooves.

"Nice to meet you." they said at the same time, though Agate's last word rather sounded like a "Ya" instead, as usual.

"We should really get going, though, the clock tower is stopped again, but we could take some time together." Rose told her with a delightful smile.

"Totally." replied Agate, waving and strolling away filled with energy. The ponies in this town were indeed really outgoing and on top of that, loose. She could easily imagine living here... though she felt she forgot something she wanted to do.

Arriving at her temporary home the smell of something burning smacked her in the face.

_'Fire?'_ she thought, until she heard the squeals and noises coming from the kitchen. Yes, she most likely knew now.

It was Rarity, trying to defend herself from the blazing fires she tried to calm down without any success. The pan suddenly began to glow with a purple aura in front of her however with a voice she knew well enough.

"Watch out!" Agate shouted, taking the pan off the stove and throwing it into the empty sink where they wash the dishes. The flames began to calm there slowly, as the pops similar to fireworks with the bubbly noises started to disappear at once, leaving nothing but ashes behind.

Rarity sighed "Well, so long for lunch, I guess. Thank you.". Cooking wasn't something she was very good at. She needed to follow the recipies exactly to make something right, though very often something minor was off still. It was something both Sweetie Belle and her inherited appearantly.

"Anytime, Rares. Should have left it to me if you know you can't cook, though." Agate replied with a cheerful tone.

"I can cook, thank you. Just... not very well." responded coldly the ivory coated, with another sigh afterwards "I should have asked Mom to teach me before they go on their holiday."

In all of a sudden, however, Agate began to chuckle. "Guess you're in that stuff I was in when leaving home. Though it explains why you're living alone here with your sister." she told her, wrapping her leg around her friend's neck as she began shaking it, saying "Come on now, we got to draw something today as well."

"I guess you are right, this can wait." Rarity replied, snapping out of the melancholic state she was in, as she turned back, leading the way upstairs.

"By the way, have you found the agent you were looking for?" she asked.

"What agent?" Agate asked back, making the seamstress turn back her head forwards with a deeply disturbed look on it. Did Agate just forgot that one thing she was going to do today alone?

Rarity opened the door of her bedroom and with a little charge of her magic she took a couple papers and pencils to give to her partner.

"You know, I was thinking we should work in separate rooms, just to make it a bit more exciting." she suggested now a bit more cheerfully.

"Good idea. I'll be in Sweetie's room then." Agate replied as she took the papers and left the room with strange giggles coming from her mouth.

Rarity was all by herself again... and it felt so lovely, she laid down her tired and used body on her beautiful bed and waited for her muse to come, which didn't take long.

"A-ha! Idea!" she sang as the pencil and the paper started their marvelous dance with each other.

Agate on the other hand, chose to lay on the hard ground instead, bursting out weird giggles with a creepy grin.

"Hihihi, yes, yes, it's perfect." she whispered in herself as she kept on drawing and drawing.

About an hour or so later, Agate knocked on the door of the other room. With an approval, she walked in with the reference sheets of her pieces, and she had plenty of them, just like Rarity.

"Well, well, that was quite a productive session for you, I see." Rarity marked in delight.

"You can say that, check this out!" Agate told her uncurling the sheet of her favorite of all. "Full-steel plate that can reflect anything coming at it, razor-sharp spikes on the shoulder plates and smaller ones on sides and cracked golden motives all over it. Everypony is going to step aside if you come down the street in this thing."

"Certainly... unique." Rarity said with an awkward grin. The thing was ugly as sin, as if it would have been made for a goblin. She rather took one of hers instead.

"How about this one?" she replied, raising on of her papers.

"A beautiful, purple traditional priestess robe with a hint of french baroque with the double frills and the end, and shining golden accessories. Older styles of fashion is always respected by most." the unicorn explained boastfully.

Purple, frills and pish-posh, all cringeworthy a dress can ever have, melted into one piece. Agate still needed to have a closer look at that, maybe just to make her feel like throwing up even more. Rarity's eyes popped open when a tugging feeling took over her reference sheet, however.

"Let me take a look." Agate said, trying to pull the paper out of her friend's grasp.

"What? No, that's mine." Rarity replied, holding her plans with all her unicorn power.

"I just want to-"

Rip! In a strike of lightning the blueprint had lied in both their magical grasp, in half. Rarity didn't believe it happened for a few seconds, she kept gasping for air a few times before she lost her mind.

"That's it missy! There was a line, and you stepped it over, it's on now." she screamed in anger, taking away Agate's paper in a swift move, and before her eyes, tearing it in two, letting the gravity take care of the rest.

Agate couldn't tell a word, it happened so fast, but she already made up her mind during the process.

"I wanted to apologize, actually, but, you know, I changed my mind. War is war!" she shouted.

"If you would have paid attention you would know this is a dress contest, not a freak show." Rarity shouted out loudly, stepping up close to her friend.

"Well I'm not going to get in with this fabric waste, you better forget about it." Agate replied with a similar volume, pushing up her face against the other unicorn's too.

"Need I remind you who was begging for help yesterday? I am helping YOU out, if you don't remember. Maybe it just didn't get through that thick skull of yours."

"A thick skull that's going to break yours!"

Both mares took a step back from each others face, as their noses were almost touching each other. Words were not enough here anymore, actions were the only way to solve this. Their horn charged up with turquoise and magenta, as the two unicorns charged head-on in a vicious battle. As their horns clashed with all their might, they released a mystical sound with a raising pitch, as if the magical energy itself would have asked "Huh?". The unicorns spar with quick and swift attacks, as the sound constantly changed its intensity and pitch with each collision. Their precious plans and papers all torn and crumpled under their hooves. Agate's blows were heavier, as her horn was somewhat longer and her magic was stronger than the one the ivory coated had. Rarity, however could turn her speed and cunning mind to her advantage, and she needed to do so quick, because the wall was getting closer and closer behind her.

A swift duck from a right slash seemed an appropriate time for a counterattack, and the ivory one pierced upwards with her horn, forcing Agate to take a step back. Rarity quickly thrust forwards once again to gain some more space as the armorsmith leaped back.

Agate needed that gap back however, and charged straight towards it with a powerful blow from above, one that the ivory coated could parry in the last second, resulting in a strength competition once again.

Agate kept oppressing Rarity, who was forced lower and lower, yet from this hopeless situation, the seamstress still saw a risky, but possible escape route. She had little choice and even less strength. A swift swipe in an arc downwards and she got the armorsmith off her balance, tripping her at her front legs. Agate didn't even had time to blink but she was already on a roll, and by the time she opened her eyes the ivory coated already made it on the top of her, her glowing blue horn pointing towards her foe's throat.

"Touché!" she said, her eyes filled with evil happiness.

"Rarity, I'm home!" a voice shouted from outside. Sweetie Belle, who just arrived back from school. Only then did the two realize the mess around them. Papers were lying everywhere across the room, the carpet ragged completely and somehow even a roll of fabric fell down from the shelves which it was stored on.

"Rarity! Hey, sis." the filly said as the door opened. However as soon as she saw the two mares, she slowly closed it back. In a sudden, the two finally arrived back to reality, the anger leaving embarrassment behind. Yet, as their eyes wondered away from the door backwards on the floor, something caught their attention. Two pieces of paper, laying next to each other in a way, that they were sort of fitting together. Rarity jumped away as she let Agate free, to see her sister, with the armorsmith following her slowly.

"Sweetie Belle, how was your day?" Rarity said with a red face.

"What were you doing in there?" Sweetie asked, her face showing worries towards her sister.

"We were just..." Rarity tried to explain, but as her mind couldn't come up with anything rational, she gave in with a heavy sigh "We were fighting."

"Sister, if I remember few days ago you said that a lady doesn't fight neither at home, neither at school, never." Sweetie replied in puffed up manner to pick on her sister, as she took out her tape player from her bag "I even have it recorded."

A click later Rarity's voice was emitted by the device "Sweetie Belle, a lady doesn't fight neither at home, neither at school, never!"

"B-but Diamon-"

"NEVER!" and with a click, all stopped. Rarity wanted to run, run and hide somewhere nopony will ever find her again. Her own actions betrayed the rules she set for her sister. So embarrassing. So shameful.

"It's alright Rarity." Sweetie giggled as she hugged her big sister "As long as I can punch Tiara in her face." she added in a bloodthristy tone in her voice.

Rarity didn't know what to say, it was either being hypocritical or being unladylike.

"Nah, it was me who got to her neck, Rares was just defending herself." Agate added, hanging her head in awkwardness as she stared at the floor.

"Alright, alright." Sweetie replied "So, will you apologize?"

The two mares stared at each other deep in the eyes.

"Agate, I..." started Rarity "I'm truly sorry for all I've stated before, I didn't mean it, at all." she continued.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Agate replied. "I wasn't being serious either, I just flipped out for nothing."

"Peace?" Sweetie asked.

"Peace." sounded the collective answer.

"Yay!" the filly shouted. "Now, don't let me see you do it again, or I'll tell Mum you like girls." she said, trotting to her room with big giggles.

"What?! You... you wouldn't dare it." she shouted at the laughing filly who just ran to her room, shutting the door.

"She wouldn't dare it... I know her." Rarity mumbled in herself. Agate strolled back to Rarity's room, they had a mess to clean up after all. Yet both of them stopped at that one formation they noticed before.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Agate asked.

"There is little chance, but I do believe I do." Rarity replied. She charged up her horn and placed the two pieces on her drawing table. Agate took up every other thing scattered on the ground, as threw them out on the trash can.

The ivory coated took up her stylish, orange reading glasses and laid down comfortably on the back of her bed, Agate joining her from the right as well as the papers and pencils in front of them.

"Oh, sexy glasses." Agate said, receiving a slightly disturbed but still sort of thankful look from the seamstress. Was she just fooling around to make it look like Sweetie Belle was right, or was actually meaning it was not something she wanted to know.

"Shall we get started, then?" Rarity asked with a smug smile.

"Sure we shall." Agate told her friend, winking back as the two unicorns began working now with united forces.

Time flied by as the two friends shared their moments of laughter, creativity and eventually, hunger. However, they preferred not to try cooking once again, rather bring the dinner from a nearby restaurant. Anyhow, the reference for the dress was ready, and it looked absolutely perfect. It wasn't a dress, but neither was it an armor, much like a little bit of both.

Rarity laid it carefully on the desk, as the girls decided to get try out something new.

"So you just..."

"Simply brush it along your mane while focusing on the parts you want to paint." Agate repeated, assuring Rarity of the process.

Rarity still stared at the little garment, not understanding how such small, shapeless and ugly stone can do such wonderful things.

"If you're still not sure, check this out." Agate told as she took out a shining black gem from her saddlebag, an onyx. Not any onyx, however. Rarity slowly approached the jewel, she couldn't believe her own eyes. The ink inside was there, seen crystal clearly as she shook it from time to time.

"I found this little fella below Rainbow Falls on a vacation. I use her the least for obvious reasons, but, uh, yeah, you can give a go with her if you would like to." Agate explained, letting go of the magicial aura, and laying it down in the hooves of the seamstress.

"Can I?" Rarity asked, as she took a look at Agate, then back at the jewel. "Thank you very much."

She closed her eyes and gently stroked the onyx along her magnificent, curly mane. As she opened it once again, her reflection in the mirror told her everything. The black mane looked gorgeous, yet dark on her. She ran it down her tail to see the magic slowly engulfing and turning the curls from blue to black.

She took a step closer, checked her mane from all sides, then let out a pleased smile for a second, frowning a bit afterwards "Oh wait, this blue is just terrible." she thought aloud.

While Rarity took out her makeup kit Agate also dyed her mane and tail from red to black, leaving only little of the liquid left in the jewel.

"Perfect!" Rarity thought, now that her eyeshades were changed to a charcoal black as well. "You look pretty smashing as well, darling." she told her partner who was also changing her eye shadows. A quick look in the mirror, to check if a spot wasn't left out, then the girls were ready to hit the streets of the night in search of a restaurant.

"Oh, wait a second." Rarity said, turning back from the door as her horn charged up, taking out a black fabric of a robe and wrapping it around her neck. "Never thought I'll use this again, actually."

"Cool, you really look like a vampony now." Agate complimented "All you need is a pair of red eyes." she added.

"Oh just wait for it darling, just wait for it." Rarity chuckled with a wicked smile as she closed the door of the boutique.

The situation slowly began to return to normal. Everypony was happy. The girls could work together without significant conflicts and the forces of light and dark lived in balance again... for now.


	6. Let's become ladies

The clock didn't need to wake from its rest the next day morning, as Rarity's eyes popped open, gently monitoring the field around her, seeing a faint yellow from her right, laying with her back towards the ivory one. Agate was still asleep. Rarity's other eye opened up as well, as she tried to withhold a gentle giggle behind her muzzle. Ever so slowly did she descended from her bed, despite she knew Agate doesn't wake up on every change around. She carefully sneaked past her mirror to her shelf when an odd sight caught her attention, the black mane of her reflection. Although she knew about it, she was yet to get used to it, and as she adored her dark beauty for a brief moment was she reminded of her little mission, making her giggle subtly once again. Rarity was not that kind of pony, but a small, harmless prank once in a while was acceptable for her. She opened her shelf slowly, taking out a small box of blue and white. After she found what she was looking for she gently pushed the container back to its original position with her tush. But a small moan was heard. Was Agate waking up? No, the mustard coated just turned around for a more comfortable position.

Without any more time to waste Rarity left the room, and entered the bathroom to put on her loot, a pair of contacts she never used before. She carefully placed one on her right hoof and with a disgusted groan she attempted to put it on. However her right eye just refused to co-operate, it just didn't want that thing, always closing as the mare's hoof approached closer and closer. The ivory coated let out an angry noise after each fail but after time, she managed to get both of the lenses on. She reached for the cupboard, where she cleverly hid two pieces of plastic, as her light blue aura of her horn charged up, taking a few cosmetic tools from the shelves. In no time, she put the black eyeliner in good use, her dark eyelashes looking more vicious than ever, her eyes being surrounded by the mystical mascara as she placed the soft, harmless pieces of plastic in her mouth where they belonged. Oh, what a terrifying, mystical creature she became, yet still, she had an odd charm to her, a charm she happened to like a lot, actually. She took a good look from all sides, then gazed out the window for a second. The Sun was slowly rising up in a distance, making the unicorn hiss menacingly, with a cute giggle afterwards. After all done, she proceeded to the next step.

Rarity peeked out the door, no souls near or far, everypony asleep. Wonderful. She made big, but slow moves forwards, until she reached the stairs that led down. With little and careful little steps she traveled down on it. There was nothing to worry about from that point, she gaited to the fridge without any attempts of hiding, opening it rubbing her front right hoof to the icy cold surface on the side. Few seconds later her limb began to feel a bit numb from the bitter cold, she took it out and closed the door, silently singing a little song she was reminded of.

"She's cold as ice..." she sang, watching her hoof letting off a bit of an icy steam as it began to warm up. Not for long, for as she had no time for that, and turning around and making her way upstairs, she got to the final chapter in her plan. This was a critical moment, if she would have been too slow, her hoof would have warmed up, if she would have been too fast, however, Sweetie Belle or even Agate could have woke up. It was all about finding the perfect balance between speed and execution, and the seamstress did magnificently.

She entered the room Agate was still sleeping in, all the curtains drawn together. No seeking eyes, just the prankster, and her victim. She slowly walked up to the other mare, gently rubbing her right hoof at her neck that was cold as a corpse. The goosebumps just appeared like an infestation on Agate's body, as a visible shiver went down her spine. Her eyes slowly opened up to blurry splatters of white and black that took a form of a black-maned unicorn with frightening scarlet eyes wrapped in black fog. Two enormous fangs were sticking out as she whispered the following words slowly but loudly, like menacing wind just before the storm.

"Give me your blood!"

Agate's eyes popped open in an instant. She seemed as would have been just launched from a cannon. With a loud scream she sprung backwards, falling off the other side of the bed, bringing the blanket with her. Rarity couldn't hold back her feeling, she burst out in chuckles as the other mare got up to look over the bed once again, the blanket oddly placed on her head.

"Rarity!" Agate shouted at the giggling mare.

"Good morning, Agate." the vampony laughed cutely, after she got rid of the annoying fangs in her mouth.

"Seriously, I thought I'm going to get a heart attack." the armorsmith told her in an irritated manner as she took the blanket off her head.

"I'm sorry, darling, I truly am, but I simply couldn't let the opportunity slip away." Rarity replied as her chuckles began to fade away.

"You'll get back this one, just lettin' you know." Agate replied "Pretty eyes by the way, contacts?"

"Thank you, and yes. I originally wanted to work with them but its too gross for me, I'm having hard time putting them on." Rarity admitted with a small sigh. "Plus they came in red which looks downright atrocious next to the purple, anyway, shall we get to the shopping today?"

"I thought Octavia was the plan for today." Agate replied, that got the other mare thinking. Getting all the exquisite fabric, threads, steel and jewelry would take at least a whole day, however Agate needed her lessons, and time was counting back mercilessly.

"You know, let's have a breakfast first and we can discuss it meanwhile." Rarity suggested.

"Well, since I wouldn't be able to sleep back anyway..." Agate responded with a gentle shrug. "I won't skimp the ketchup this time." she chuckled opening the door to the lady.

Rarity rolled her eyes and shrugged the terrible joke off like it was nothing as she passed by the mare "Oh, please..."

"Why? You'll see, those sandwiches are something you can really sink your teeth into."

"Okay, that's enough..."

"Aw sucks! I just started to get the fang of it."

"Agate!"

The two mares took a seat in front of the desks once again, as Rarity reached for the knives with her magical aura of turquoise, Agate took a look into the fridge with her amethyst one. Even though the sun just barely took off the horizon, the two was already fresh and ready to take on the day... except for Agate, who was yet to set her messy mane.

"I was thinking Agate." Rarity said, as she let on of the buttered knives slide back and forth along the bread "If we can't go shopping for supplies, maybe we should split up for today."

"What do you mean?" Agate replied with full mouth, something that irked Rarity, but knew it will happen.

"While you're at Octavia in the afternoon, I might go find some jewels for the dress in the ridge nearby, the usual place on mine." she explained. "Until then we might as well write the list together."

"Good thinking, we can get some time with that." the mustard coated replied, as she finished off her breakfast. "Mind you show me where to put the knives?" she asked.

Rarity also finished with her breakfast and hearing the unusual words she felt like giving a compliment as she joined her partner in cleaning the dishes.

"My, my, Agate, this was so refined." she told her. An use of words from a girl like the her was something she felt even an oracle couldn't have seen coming. It gave her hope, much of it.

Agate let out a heavy sigh as response however, a sound that filled the seamstress with worry.

"You know... mother always wanted me to be just like her, so she always spoke to me and Belle Garde like she spoke to the ponies on the street." she explained.

"Belle Garde?" Rarity asked, as the name was entirely new to her. Yet, she liked it, it sounded so nice, elegant and classy. Belle Garde, just saying it was a pleasure.

"Our housemaid, she was generally caring about me but just because mother told her so." the mustard coated told as her purple irises became hidden under her eyelids, only for a bit of a pause. "Doesn't matter, I live there no more." she added in a cold manner as she put back the dishes to their place.

There was more to this, the ivory coated thought, it wasn't simply a loss of reputation around her living space but inside as well. It seemed as if Agate was in bad terms with her family as well, which would explain why she was living alone and her closest friends are her own tools. For now, though, the unicorn decided to let this mystery unpacked in case there was a bomb beneath the cover, especially if her partner had a skeleton in the closet and would lash back out on her for discovering it. There was something that was bugging her still, for Agate always took a bath and washed her teeth ever since she moved in, causing much less headaches to her than she expected. It could have been her simply trying to get her favor or something else.

The two unicorns, after their breakfast, returned to their bedroom to write final list containing the ingredients for glory... or death. Though, Rarity stopped by her sister's room to wake the filly from her deep slumber, it was time to school. After that being done, they returned to Rarity's room at once. The drawing of their final decision lit up with a gentle blue aura as it was levitiated over to them, while a magenta aura brought pencils and papers over there.

The dress looked simply amazing. At the skirt part, layers of steel studded together to make it less firm and give space to the moving hind legs, while a pattern of transparent silk organza would lay on its top of purple and red, with white lines giving hold to the pattern and black streaks hiding the less fashionable parts, like the beautiful windows of the canterlotian palace. Bells made of silver and a three rings of steel with a round, shield-like steel plate on the bottom adorned with gems and beautiful, jet black and maroon saddle on the top connected the steel with the fabric. The chestpiece of dark pink and red fabric was gifted with a similar pattern in the middle, running up from the shield part to the wonderful collar adorned by bells and yellow motives. Two puffs similar to the upper part were found on the sides, hiding a part of the legs, their motives cut by the collar. From that point, only the cold monster of steel that lurked behind the beauty was shown, making it's way upwards, up, even engulfing the neck completely. Unlike the Guardian's Bride, the fabric and the steel embraced one another in a glorious masterpiece, the Cherry Orchard Dress.

The named bugged Rarity a little bit, since she saw no sign of cherry in it. At least until Agate pointed out the bells and the overall red color. Still, Rarity preferred the "Rose Window" name.

After all preparations the ivory coated began the listing "Okay, we're going to need silk..."

The list seemed all ready in an hour, and it turned out pretty long. So many things were needed yet time looked so short.

Rarity felt as she made a good decision, with the plan of splitting up, yet she felt like taking some time with Octavia and Agate, just a little push to get the machine rolling.

Her instincts told her something will not be alright all the way down the street, she kept wondering just how bad the two of her friend's relationship could be and why. She knocked on the door, with the gray coated opening it.

"Greetings Miss Rarity." she said with a warm smile, that turned into a disgusted frown as she turned her eyes to Agate.

"Thief?"

"Prick?"

The two words came and go as lightning, yet Rarity heard them both, and it shook her body to the bone, filling up with madness. Two shots they kept withdrawn in front the ivory mistress, yet they fired them on sight of one another. This was already bad, but she decided not to let the situation descend any deeper, at any price.

"Okay, now I had enough." she stomped in her boiling anger "What's wrong with you two?"

Octavia frowned a little bit more, then invited the ivory one "Come in." She already prepared a bottle of wine for the arrival, however she was not calm enough for a glass, nor were the others.

The others took seat on the red sofa by the side, while Octavia prepared the drink on the table by the side, then joined them on a smaller pillow, sighing up.

"So what's all the fuss between you?" Rarity asked again furiously but not shouting like before. The two completely turned inside out just by looking at each other, yet the reason was unknown yet. She wanted answers, now!

Octavia let out another heavy sigh "It was back in Canterlot High School, where I started my music career..."

"There was this musical competition something which I beat her in quite good." Agate cut in, getting straight to the point.

"That place was mine!" Tavia shouted "Hammers and saws are not instruments, you didn't deserve anything."

"Oh, they can be in my opinion, and as I recall, in the judges' opinion as well. Don't worry, your lost bets surely found good owners." Agate replied with a smug grin.

"You humiliated me in front of the entire school." the bassist screamed in her fury.

"And you deserved it!" shouted back the other one.

"What bets, may I ask?" Rarity inquired as she only observed and listened for now, though under the calm surface she was deeply irritated by the things going headfirst against her plans.

Agate replied sooner "Octavia was so sure in her victory that her pumped-up ego let her make bids since flaunting around was not enough anymore."

"Don't listen to her, she is lying!" Tavia recoiled back, hearing the words from her foe's mouth.

"So when I entered the contest and beat her with Hammy and Sissy she got a lethal blow to her self-esteem."

"Because you bribed the judge and cheated." Octavia raised her volume once again.

"What?!"

"Agate knew she needed the good reputation of the contest to get out of her mother's basement and start her own business, and since her mom was in good terms with Royal Ribbon, she brought the price for pocket money for her little, helpless daughter." the bassist continued with a condescending tone, forcing down Agate's pill on her own throat.

"Hey, shut up! That's not true." Agate shouted up once again.

"Enough from both of you!" Rarity stomped in frustration "Whatever happened was years ago, both of you changed since. You should forget what happened, and learn to work together."

"Why exactly? So she can win something she would not deserve... again?"

"Why wouldn't I deserve winning? Because you're too blind and vindictive because of your failure? Or do you think smithing takes no talent either?"

"Stop! Both of you!" Rarity shouted even louder, but the answer she received was unexpected.

"Make us!" sounded back from both sides, neither of them even looking towards the way of the white one.

At this point, Rarity felt so mad, so disappointed, she felt that the world around her was to collapse."Alright, then don't stop. Keep up this childish war-game for all you want, I give up."

She stood up and bailed out, heading to the exit without any sign of her fury that could have made all Equestria burn down to the ground if let loose. Both mares fell into cold silence as the unicorn left, gently closing the door behind.

Rarity decided to walk somewhere, anywhere but that place was fine to her. Yet she couldn't handle the frustration inside her that was about to erupt in a loud groan a second later, turning into a painful sigh afterwards. The steam left, and her head felt much lighter. Much better.

_'Alright. Even if Octavia can't teach her something I can still try to teach her to walk and pose properly, along with Fleur maybe, yes. In worst case Twilight may have a transformation spell and I could just take the stage twice. It would have its risk but-_

"Rarity! Wait!" a voice told from behind, a voice that brought back the frustration she just eradicated from her body. Yet deep inside she hoped they want good, and she didn't let anger turn the situation to one even worse.

"Yes?" she turned back, her eyes clearly telling what she felt inside.

"We'd like to apologize for what we said." Octavia told her in a regretful melody "Truly this competition means a lot to you, and if it means you need my aid in winning, I give my best to help."

"Yeah, we was too much into this fight stuff, sorry Rares. We couldn't think properly." Agate added. Both looked sad and regretful because of their own actions, it was seen clearly in their eyes.

Rarity however, for the surprise of both of them began giggling under her muzzle.

"Very well then, I'm glad you two learned to live in peace at last, I have no reason to be upset anymore." she said "However I need to get to the mines soon as I can, I'm still not sure if I can get home before sundown even."

"Sure thing Rares! We can handle this from now on." replied Agate with a wink full of trust and confidence that curled up the lips of the ivory one even more. She nodded gently and strolled off with a small wave of her hooves. She had her doubts, naturally, but she wished for the bests and didn't let the negative thoughts engulf her mind once again.

"Alright" Octavia whispered as she closed the door of her home "Vinyl isn't home so its just you and me."

She took a careful look around to see if there is anything helpful they can start with. The bookshelf caught her attention, she rushed there and took down a good handful of its contents.

"Okay, first lesson is the posture. Every lady has to have an elegant look and impression. Here try to balance these on the top of your head." she told the smith walking back to the baffled, mustard coated unicorn. "Just try three first, then we will add more and more with time."

Agate, smiling at the ease of the task took the first three from the top with the help of her magic and placed them perfectly atop her head. However, as soon as the faint purple aura dissipated around the stack they began to lean to the left, making the armorsmith tilt her head a bit to the right for correction, but without success. The books hit the ground in no less than a second. Agate became a bit of confused, she was sure she put them on the right place.

"Wait, wait, let me try again." she said, as the books were once again engulfed in the purple mist. Yet this time, they decided to bend to the other way, falling off on the right side.

"Hey, what the-"

Octavia counted this in, though the situation was worse than she expected. However, Agate's need to get down this obstacle could be used to speed up the process.

"It's just the matter of practice. Let me help." she told her, putting her left hoof on the forehead of the other mare. "Head lifted, neck a bit back, legs together." she added, as she set Agate to the preferred position. She took another three books from the stack and carefully put it atop the mare, then let them go. Agate stood completely still, and for her surprise, the papers on her as well.

After a rough five seconds Octavia spoke up "Okay, now try to walk towards me slowly." she told her, taking a few steps back. Agate slowly raised her right limb, took a careful step forwards...

... and the papers hit the ground again.

"Gah." groaned the mustard one as she tried once again. Just three books, yet with Octavia's advice she managed to keep the book on her head tiny bit longer with each try. The improvement was raw gold, very little yet tangible, and with a lot of value. She wanted to prove Rarity her abilities, that was driving her.

Speaking of her, the seamstress returned to her home with a little sadness on her face.

"Aww, too bad my Spikey had to go to Canterlot on this day of all." she thought, trotting towards her closet and with a small charge of her horn opening it.

"Good thing I have prepared for such rough times as well." the unicorn continued as a mysterious click sounded, with the back of the furniture moving away, revealing a secret area, where Rarity hold one of her many skeletons.

With a delightful melody she shouted up upon finding what she was looking for as the item slowly flew out from the closet. "Haha!".

It was a shovel. No, actually, it was not just a shovel, it was a beautiful, little, shining one with a flawless steel spade, a wooden handle made of the finest oak around, and on the top of all, a beautiful diamond in the centre of the handle. It was Rarity's custom shovel, she paid a lot for it, but it looked so charming she never had the heart to get it dirty... let alone to get herself dirty. There was no other choice this time, and somehow the presence of somepony who works with steel convinced her mind that any smaller damage could be repaired on it. She put it in her saddlebag, only to have its T-shaped wooden end with the diamond shown, she pulled out her little cart from under her table and with a small farewell to her little sister she hurried out to the field. One last look back at the clock that just passed half past three and she closed the door behind her.

"Nicely done." clapped Octavia as she watched Agate, somewhat slowly but steadily cantering across the room with the books on her head. It was a magnificent sight for her, and she believed Rarity would be glad to see it as well. Deep inside, the bassist was also glad she made this decision, the feeling of teaching somepony with success gave her a warm feeling she never felt before.

_'It's in her blood, it seems. She just didn't know about it.'_ she thought in herself, scratching her jaw back and forth. "Alright, this will be enough for today."

"Meet ya tomorrow then?" the armorsmith asked, joyful from her own victory as well. She couldn't wait to show Rarity how much she improved.

"Vinyl will get back tomorrow from her tour, but I hope she'll let us be. If not we can still always practice in the library." the bass playing mare giggled, opening the door to her friend. "Take care!"

"Catch ya later!" Agate told her and took her leave. The sun was setting slowly already, however some shops were still open outside. She just hoped the one she saw yesterday would be open.

"Alright, now which street was it, actually?" she said to herself as she trotted down towards the town hall in a distance, the highest chance to find a town map seemed to be there. Few streets later did she noticed the darker building from the corner of her eye, and when she turned her full focus there she noticed a small part of the tie and the heart logo hanging from its side. Yes it was exactly what she was looking for, making her increase her pace as she got around the building, a strange, dark purple hut with bats, spiderwebs and pumpkins. The sign said: "Gothica's Spooky Shop" and "Costumes and Accessories" in smaller letters. It was still open, so missing the chance was no option.

She ambled up the door and slowly opened it, seeing nothing but darkness inside at first, but as she stepped in carefully she saw that a few candles made it able to see the visible surroundings. The door opened very slowly as the unicorn peaked in gently when out of nowhere, a pack of dolls with long black manes, white eyes and an unnerving grin dropped into her field of view, making her gasp for air out of shock.

A wicked evil laugh was echoing across the room as the dolls ascended, with a dark character walking out from behind the purple curtain, however, the closer she came the friendlier she looked.

Her skin was of a similar ivory color than that of Rarity's, but with a slight shade of pink. Her mane of pink and purple, even though was set with great care, still looked strange and messy from the horizontal pattern of the different colors, as it formed gigantic orbs, three on each side, smaller and smaller ones the closer they were to the ground. Eyes made of plastic were scattered all inside it, peaking out and into the void. Her eyes of hot pink just seared from joy, kindness and life. One particular scarlet red eye however was adorning her charcoal black bowtie, much on the like the logo of the shop, which turned out to be her cutie mark.

She took a long stick of chalk into her mouth a drew another line on the table to her right, into the first column, named "Scared", while the second one had the text "Not scared" above it, with mere one line, while the first one had five, ten, twenty... too many to count.

"Welcome, welcome, how may I help you?" the mare asked in a casual, high-pitched tone. She was filled with energy and not only looked but also sounded the kind of childish yet very outgoing mare, which had a calming effect in this old-looking, dark and scary little building.

Agate's heart still couldn't get over the prank, yet with a calm tone replied "I'm looking for a specific costume, Gothica."

"Well, you're a few months late for Nightmare Night" the strange shopkeeper giggled adorably "but that doesn't mean I don't have anything in store for you. Come take a look... _if you dare_." she added with long and menacing words, as she rushed behind the curtain on her right, dragging a whole lot of clothes on a long rack out.

Agate's eyes instantly caught the one she just needed. Fur, two red eyes and creepy fangs on the headdress, a chestpiece made of gray fabric, along with fur paws with plastic claws, it was... not exactly what she hoped for. While its pieces were not making up a full fur suit, Agate wasn't disappointed by this one too much either. It might just have worked if she set the stage up properly.

However, there was that other thing on the shelf of her left side that also interested her, a pair of horns, beautiful and curvy, similar to a ram's, namely, succubus horns.

Succubi were Agate's favorite mythical creature, for some reason, they were attracting her, seducing her. Now that she thought about it, vamponies and succubi had a lot in common, but while one brought pain, the other brought pleasure. Maybe that one was a better idea for a surprise? Though the plans seemed promising, she still managed to snap out of the antlers' hypnosis.

"I'd like that werepony one." she told the shopkeeper, pointing at the fur.

"One day, three days?" the shopkeeper asked, tilting her head left and right gently.

"Just for tonight."

"That'll be six bits."

Agate placed the payment on the counter, then returned her attention to the horns. She wanted them... and they wanted her. She couldn't resist, she took the ones that curled wonderfully backwards, around her ears from behind.

"I'd also like these cuties." she chuckled, putting the accessories on the counter as well.

"Eleven bits, then." Gothica added with a giggle, while Agate gave in some more of her money. The earth pony took down the werepony costume, folded it and packed it into a larger bag, along with the horns.

"Thank you dear, and have a _freaky good night_." she advised with the last words again being long and spooky, after quickly counting up the gold.

"You too, Gothy." Agate chuckled as her horn charged and she lifted up her bag with the purple aura of her magic. The doorknob also received an aura of the same color as the wooden and old door opened once again.

Eventually, the stars - led by the full moon - occupied the sky once more. A hard day's work, but Rarity had her little cart full of the most beautiful jewels she could find.

"Ponyville, finally." she said, with a yawn leaving her throat. "I can't wait to get into my warm, beautiful bed."

She was so close, yet still, it seemed so far. A howl was heard in a distance from behind the plains on her right. It came from the forest, most likely, nothing new. Though this night, they seemed to be really active, who knows, maybe because it was spring. Rarity was reminded of the creatures again and again, though it didn't bother her much, until she heard something from the bushes from behind, on the left.

She looked there in an instant, but not a soul was seen, only the houses and the vegetation. She looked to her right, but only some of the empty field and the forest in the background was seen. Then the noise was heard again, from much closer this time.

"Somepony there?!" she said as her entire body turned back as a reaction. But she was more clever than that, and with a deep huff and frown she spoke up loud.

"Agate, I'd hate to burst your bubble but if you're trying to scare me it's not going to work." she shouted. No answer, but another rustling from a bush from just behind, with steps heard even. They didn't sound like hoofsteps however, and that slightly unnerved the unicorn.

"I know you're there, Agate, get out from that bush." she continued, but since she received no answer in seconds, she began strolling slowly to the bush next to the small house. With a swift move she swept away the leaves to look inside, but nothing. However, somepony... something touched her from behind.

It was not a pony's hoof for sure, too furry and strange, with something pointy picking against her coat on her shoulder. It was more like... a paw. However, even before her mind could possibly processwhat creature the limb might have belonged to, the gentle touch turned into a powerful grab, taking away the seamstress and forcing her with face upwards on the ground.

Her throat let out a final scream from the top of her lungs, before hell broke loose.

"No! Please! No!" she yelled, trembling from fear as she covered her face from the monster she couldn't look at. Her heart was working overtime, and every bit of oxygen in her lungs was used up in her screams. It took a whole few seconds until she noticed the gentle, muffled giggles in the background, only then she dared to lower her cover, peeking out from between her hooves.

"Agate!" she shouted furiously, smashing her hooves to the ground. "This was a terrible move, even from you."

"Well I told you you'll get it back." the armorsmith chuckled softly.

"Yes I know, your plan was see-through like a new window" Rarity told her madly with a frown, that slowly turned into a small giggle "but it was effective nonetheless."

The two mares were just laughing at the events gently, until Agate noticed the windows opening from her right, making Rarity turn there as well. They were being watched by six pairs of eyes, and one was someone whose Agate also recognized, Rose's. However, as soon as the two mares returned the eye contact, the flower ponies slowly backed away as Rose closed the window with a slightly disturbed face.

Didn't took much for the two unicorns to realize they were in the same awkward position as yesterday, but with the tables turned of course. Agate quickly hopped away and Rarity stood up on her fours in record time as well to prevent more witnesses.

They didn't dare to look in one another's eye for a few seconds until everything was fine and dandy.

"We should try end up in this position less often." Rarity advised with quick and quiet words, Agate nodding and signing to get moving.

"Gothica's Nightmare Night costume, hmm?" Rarity chuckled gently, as her eyes stared up from the costume towards the beautiful moon danced around the countless stars "You know, it has some truth in its symbolism, I mean this whole vampony and werepony business."

"Yeah, I also noticed, we seem very different, yet we both come from the same core, we both work in the same environment, and we both can't stand each other either." Agate laughed.

"Okay, let's make something clear." Rarity stopped in a sudden, breaking to joyful mood with her cold tone. "I might not agree with most of actions you do, nor decisions you make, but that, by far doesn't mean I hate you like a vampony hates a werepony." she added, as her cold voice suddenly turned warm and soothing.

"Believe or not, it is quite enjoyable working with you Aggy, it gives some color to these gray days." she told her with a lovely smile.

"Yeah, you know, I also think you're a really kind and wonderful pony inside, regardless that you enjoy doing the fancy stuff like those canterlotians." Agate said with her never sounding so sincere and grateful before.

"Being with you is much like being with Fleur, Rares. I feel like someone is caring about me, and listens to me, it feels so cool." she added.

Seconds have passed, yet the two ponies stood still, smiling at each other, until suddenly, and for their own surprise both mares let the exact same sentence out from the cage of their mouths: "Thank you."

"By the way, 'Aggy'?" the smith asked afterwards with a questioning look on her face, as she once again moved towards home.

"I think it sounds charming." Rarity answered, returning the friendly smile, as she let out a gasp when something she wanted to ask long before came up in her mind afterwards "Oh, by the way, how can one remove this dye?"

"Well, there has to be a way."

"Wait! You mean you don't know?!"


	7. A day off

"Miss Agate made significant progress since yesterday." Octavia told the unicorn, full of excitement as she took down the books from the shelf, the same first ten of the bottom row like yesterday.

"Really now? I'm all eager to see it." Rarity replied from the sofa next to them.

Agate stood up and with a charge of her horn she took over the first three of the paperbacks from the stack, engulfing them with her purple aura. She gently and carefully placed them on the top of her head, then released it. Standstill. As the books stopped all kinds of moment and she was perfectly comfortable with the situation she took a slow step forwards, then another, and another. Rarity was amused, she didn't expect her friend going this far in such short time. But now came the harder part, the turn. Agate hated this, the sharp turn to the left got her most of the times, the books always fell to the right sooner or later. She was extra careful this time, one limb after another with her head slowly turning as well, then the small tower shaken itself. With a quick step to the right she fixed it and stood still for a few seconds again. The hardest part was over, all she needed now is to go straight past the arch that connected the room with the corridor and place the books on the small nightstand. One step after another, with her mind focused on absolutely nothing but the books she started her way to the nightstand, slowly, carefully, easily. Octavia was already full of pride of her, and Rarity's smile also shown her emotions. In the end, Agate arrived at the furniture and with a charge of her magic she placed her cargo on the destination. The run was perfect, and she was incredibly happy about it.

"Nah, Rares, how's that?" she told her ivory friend with a proud and challenging voice as she gazed over to the ivory one.

Rarity, of course saw the fire in those eyes, she decided not to refuse the challenge and put Agate in her place as she returned the wicked look with lowered eyelids.

"Not too shabby, darling, but let me show you how it is done." she replied, as her horn became surrounded by her signature blue aura. She stood up took up the rest of the pile, possibly six or seven books and placed them atop her head. Without any hesitation or waiting she started moving, with the tower on her being perfectly idle. She strolled as if there was nothing but her mane on her head, elegantly yet still as fast as she normally walks. Agate's eyes widened, especially when they saw the unicorn taking the turn like nothing. However, this was not the end by far. As Rarity walked towards her, the seamstress took a soft turn to the right and passed under the arch, making her way towards the craziest thing somepony could ever think of. As she turned from the small chicane, a subtle wink flirted with the armorsmith's eyes from between the red bearer of the arch and the bars of the stairs.

She was nuts, Agate thought. Such thing seemed impossible, yet the unicorn walked up the stairs ever so elegantly and gently. She couldn't believe it, she ran after her to see the rest. The tower didn't move significantly one way or another and Rarity climbed the stairs with no difficulty whatsoever, doing a 180 degree turn as she took the weigh off her head.

"So? What were you saying?" she told her as she set her beautiful purple curls back to their original place. Agate's mouth was still open, which made the unicorn burst out in a couple giggles as she made her way back.

"Miss Rarity's posture is perfect." Octavia complimented from the sofa with gentle claps she made.

"Thank you, dear, there are years of practice behind it." the ivory one replied as she nodded with her eyes shut, that opened wide again a second later "Since we can forget about the shopping plan for today, how about a day off in the Spa?"

"I'm sorry Miss Rarity, but I need practice for the upcoming symphony." Octavia denied politely. She already needed to redo her schedule because of Agate, she couldn't allow any more delays.

"Oh, that's a shame. How about you Agate?" Rarity asked, turning towards her other friend.

"Nah, spas are not my thing, only those broken-neck ponies who leak bits go there up in Canterlot. I'm having no money for that." Agate explained with a small frown as her eyes looked away. Rarity however knew her better, and could bet on her next collection that Agate didn't want it because she still insist on not having any common ground with the ponies of Canterlot, whatsoever. All she needed, was a gentle push from behind.

"Then be my guest for a hot bath." she invited her with a friendly smile on her face.

Agate was still hesitating, but it seemed as a good offer, considering it was... basically a hot bath. Not that weird body-beating, nor that awful soil with pickles, not a gas cabin, nothing of those outlandish things she saw in the catalogs, so what could go wrong?

A heavy sigh left her throat but she said what her friend wanted to hear "Alright, if its just a hot bath."

Rarity began chuckling behind her ivory muzzle, she knew exactly that its going to happen. Deep inside she knew there is a little bit of fascination inside her friend towards it, she didn't know for sure why, she just felt it.

"The spa it is, then. Well, see you later Miss Octavia." she added as their bassist friend seen them off.

"Bye Tavi." Agate added, as the waving pony closed the door behind them.

"Trust me, dear, you're going to love it." Rarity told her friend who was still quite skeptical about the whole thing. "By the way, it is going to be Spring Spa Weekend soon. I think with a weather like this it's going to be a huge success." she added in hope of motivating her friend.

"What day is it?" Agate asked in a bit of confusion as she didn't pay much attention lately, especially today when they woke up extremely lately because of yesterday's little nighttime playing which resulted in Rarity not being able to wake up Sweetie Belle in time which ended up in her sister being late from school.

"Friday." she replied as she stared at the ground. Rarity didn't really want to bring it up in her mind for she was extremely ashamed of it. On the top of that, they spent the entire forenoon looking for a way to remove the artificial color from their mane and tail, good thing their first stop was at Twilight, though, otherwise they'd possibly still be looking around.

The two mares fell into silence afterwards. It was planned so differently from what they were doing now, but it was late to mourn already when they woke up in the morning.

Rarity stopped in front of a strange blue building that looked more or less like a tent on the top. She entered the building with a joyful greeting along her friend, who also let a small 'Hello!' out but was more interested in what lied all round.

"It's much bigger than it looks from outside." she noted as her eyes examined the building, the beautiful plants, pillars, the tiny waterfall sculpture and decorations on the walls.

"Hmm... I'll be honest, I actually haven't noticed that." Rarity replied as she followed Agate in her crazy actions of behaving like she never ever was her before, up until a voice called her.

"Good Afternoon, Miss Rarity, the usual?" that voice asked, making both of them focus that way. It was a blue earth pony with a long, pink mane that was set backwards with a pretty white headband. She had a strange and very strong accent but not canterlotian, much more a northern-equestrian.

"Just a hot bath for two today, thank you." Rarity replied sweetly, making the mare's head make a gentle nod and turned around too leave the counter. Agate however noticed something pink from the corner of her eyes, but it disappeared as soon as she looked towards it.

"This way, Agate." the ivory one called, as she wrapped up a beautiful gold-white spa robe with her signature R letter, and giving a normal one to her friend as well. The three mares headed into the spa section afterwards, Rarity leading the way to a gigantic tube of water in the middle of a room, with a few beds around and an arch that was leading to a different room.

"It will take a bit of a time until the water warms up, but please make yourself comfortable. Let me know if there is anything I can help with." the blue mare behind them told themrushing through a "Staff only" labeled door.

Rarity took down the robe and gently placed them on the small platform as she folded it, Agate following her steps up the stairs, however she just simply threw the robe there.

The water wasn't that warm at all indeed, but they both knew it will change soon. In fact the rising of the heat was notable. The blue pony returned from the secret room.

"Just a few seconds." she said, trotting off. There was something oddly charming about her, actually, yet the smith couldn't really put her hoof on it. She just liked her.

Eventually, the water started to steam from the heat, and the ivory one laid back with a pleasurable moan escaping from her mouth.

"Ahh... isn't it wonderful?" she asked. It was time to relax and rest.

"You know, I think I could have made this tub of water boil faster." Agate replied.

"Could you now?" Rarity asked in a questioning manner. That was new to her and she became curious on what other things might her friend hide in her pockets.

Agate nodded as her horn began to charge up. She began to work with enormous forces as her eyes shut and she began to groan with her teeth showing even.

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Rarity interrupted "I don't want to boil alive in here, you know." she told her. That, and she was also afraid something else could happen she preferred not to think about.

Agate turned around to get a look at the interior when 'she' appeared again. The pink one, who she saw before. She looked exactly like the skyblue pony but her coat being pink, while her mane being blue, instead of vice versa. Even the cutie mark was the same.

The unicorn moved to the side of the wooden pool to get a better look on the pony who were placing strange black stones on an amethyst unicorn that, strangely enough had the exact same manestyle as her. The sight was exciting her so much she began wagging her tail left and right gently.

Rarity noticed that naturally, and moved next to her to check on what must be it. Deep inside however, an emotion arose of a strong taste: Success.

"Those are lava stones, darling. Their heat helps the energy to circulate in the body as well as to relax the muscles." Rarity explained, hoping Agate gains more interest in the topic.

"I was actually looking at her." Agate whispered, gently signing with her eyes towards the pink pony's direction to let Rarity know "She looks totally like the other girl, but colors swapped. Even their cutie mark is the same. It's so cool." she added in a way Rainbow Dash would have said.

The ivory one had a sudden urge to hit the wood her hoof was lying on at that moment with her head... possibly multiple times. But wait! This didn't necessarily meant complete failure. If she is interested in them maybe she will be interested in what they are doing.

"You know them?" the armorsmith asked excitedly.

"Well, she is Lotus... no, she is Aloe... ah, I tend to mix them up unfortunately." Rarity told her, as she tried to recall which one is which.

"It's cool, thanks." Agate nodded as she turned to her friend with a smile. Rarity swam back gently to her own territory and laid back to relax. Agate also swapped to a more comfortable position.

"The shops are open tomorrow in Canterlot, right?" Rarity asked, changing the topic to one more at hooves.

"Yeah, they're usually open on Saturdays as well." Agate replied, confusion reflecting from her face.

"I was thinking, if I could travel there with the last train I could get there tomorrow morning and still save the plan we worked out." the ivory coated told her. They were either saving or losing a lot of time with this decision, much like having a sixteen in Blackjack.

"No Rares, no need to push yourself so hard. A weekend is not much of a delay, we can make up time after we took some rest." Agate replied, almost in an ordering voice.

"Do you realize that we are half at the time limit and we have done nothing so far?" Rarity responded in that intimidating, angered manner Agate usually tried to avoid hearing. There was something in it that made her get back into her turtle-shell.

"Okay, if you insist. So you get the fabric and the furry stuff there and I get the other little accessories and all that around here." Agate recited their plot, Rarity nodding in response. The mustard coated sighed up "Not a five-minute walk... It's going to be a good chance to get familiar with Ponyville at least."

As the blue coated pony appeared again, on her way towards the staff room again, Agate quickly turned around and started waving her hoof for her attention.

The earth pony of course trotted there with a kind smile "May I help?"

"You're Aloe right?" the unicorn asked.

"Lotus, actually, my sister is Aloe." she giggled in an embarrassed manner.

"Do you know what is this Spring Spa Weekend about?" Agate asked, but was interrupted by the mare behind.

"Agate, don't chit-chat around with Miss Lotus, she is busy." she told her off, turning towards Lotus "I'm sorry for the interruption."

"It's alright Miss Rarity." she smiled back, turning to Agate again "During Spring Spa Weekend, spas take most their equipments out into the nature to celebrate the way it refreshes after winter. We'll be providing services in the Ponyville park the next two days." she explained.

"Neat, thanks much."

"Anything else I can help you with?" she asked, both of them shaking their heads as a response.

Rarity looked quite angry however "Agate, are you planning on going while I'm away by any chance?" She didn't fully trust her newfound partner yet, which was reasonable at this point. Getting the trust of hers was a real challenge, for ones more than for others.

"What? No of course, I was just... wondering." the other unicorn replied, but it was not satisfactory to the seamstress in the least. She stood up and took her way to the stairs. Her hooves were all pruney so it was time to get out the water anyway. Agate followed her once again as they wrapped the robes around themselves that soaked in the water with time.

"So, how was the hot bath?" she asked with a big grin, though knowing Agate, she didn't set her hopes too high about the answer.

"Like... a hot bath?" Agate responded with a questioning look. "I don't know, Rares, I still feel a bit... strange. As in, I feel no different than before.".

"This might be the case, but believe me your skin loved all those minerals." the other one responded. As the unicorns dried themselves they gave back Lotus the robe and Rarity paid up for the service, with some tips, of course.

"Thank you girls." said the unicorn as she opened the door with her magic.

"You're welcome Miss Rarity, please come again." Lotus and Aloe replied together, much for the armorsmith's fascination. They gave off this oddly warm wibe from them, and the smith liked that a lot.

"Sweetie, we're home." Rarity shouted as she opened the door of her boutique. She didn't waste any time and ran upstairs to pack a few things for her journey. Agate, on the way, looked inside the filly's room in case she was there. A small, moaning blob of white welcomed her.

"Hey, Sweetie." she told her, receiving another moan muffled by a pillow. The filly was still under the weather.

"Did Chers smacked you upside the head?" she asked with a tiny giggle. If it would have been her she would have most likely forget about it already.

"Mhmm..."

"It can happen with everypony, trust me." Agate said patting the little pony on her back "I for one got kicked from Celestia's school."

The filly, hearing that crawled a bit further under her pillow, popping her head up the other side with the answer "Really?"

"Yeah, I got to go to Canterlot Primary afterwards. Actually, now that I recall I know where I've seen that Twilight girl before, she was that giga-nerd Sunburn." the mare laughed "Look. Bad things happen, learn from it and forget, that's all."

"Agate, where did you go?" Rarity called from outside, in response Agate just screamed "Coming." and with a last smile left Sweetie.

Rarity was ready to leave and already headed downstairs when the other one opened the door in front of her. Rarity was only carrying a pretty reticule with her this time with all the important things she needed inside.

"Alright, I'm going, will be back tomorrow afternoon I think. Watch for Sweetie please." she rambled in hurry. There was no time to lose, and the seamstress was determined as ever to complete this task. Once Rarity set her mind to something she wasn't to give it up easily.

"Wait!" Agate yelled, rushing into the bedroom, several seconds later that seemed an eternity did she just return, throwing something to her partner in a large arc.

"The keys for the workshop, there might be some mess but nothing catastrophic." she added, as the ivory mistress caught the object with a confused look. They key was on a keychain alongside with a small purple stone of a tear shape and many various shades scattered across it.

"Thanks." Rarity replied as she dropped the key into her bag and got going with a final farewell.

Agate still had one last thing to do, for it was laying on the ground as she entered the bedroom: she needed to bring back the werepony costume for Gothica. She packed it back into the bag she received it in as well as her purse and hurried out.

"I'll bring these back, will come later." she shouted as she trotted down the stairs. The keys to the boutique were still in the door, seemed Rarity left them there so they could find it with ease. Agate closed the shop, turning the little sign, thus letting everypony else also know about it and trotted to the building she now knew the exact way towards.

It didn't take long until she found it, and now she went up the stairs and entered with much more confidence. Though, in contradiction, the falling doll scared her even more than before. Another one to the list of scared ponies. She handled her business in a few minutes and was to return home on a slightly different route this time, for the sake of practice.

The Sun was soon to disappear from the horizon once again, as the unicorn was cantering on a street she never walked on before, as long as a very familiar building with odd blue top caught her attention. It was the spa again. She stopped for a second and took a closer look, to notice the small sign on the door still said "Open". The small stand on the side shown a more accurate information, however. She was hesitating, yet for a strange, unknown reason something was luring her towards the building. She brought her wallet, and that wasn't in the favor of going on forwards, as the growing curiosity took over her body.

She entered the spa once again...

"How long?"

"Just roughly thirty minutes, it'll be over soon."

Then the door opened.

"Hello?" a voice was heard coming from a very familiar unicorn.

"Ah, Miss Rarity's friend, Good Afternoon." Lotus told with a warm smile.

"Hello Miss Lotus and Miss Aloe." Agate said as she started playing with the tip of her front hooves. The sight of the twins both in front of her got her pumping, in her mind she was already screaming and squealing on the top of her lungs.

_'Oh my God that's so awesome.'_

"How may we help you?" Aloe asked. Her voice was very similar to her sister's but of a higher pitch.

"Yes, you know Aloe this afternoon I saw you doing that thing with the black stones, can I try that too?" she asked, having more and more trouble controlling herself. There was something in that two that hyped her up, if anything, twins were her weaknesses.

"The Lavastone Massage? Of course." Aloe replied with the same adorable smile. It wasn't anything new to her that they don't know the name of this therapy.

"That'll be fifteen bits, madam." Lotus added from the side.

"Fif... teen? Or fifty? I think I heard only fifteen but was it fifty?" the unicorn blabbered in absolute confusion.

The skyblue one repeated slowly "Fifteen miss.".

Agate was shocked. In Canterlot, spas are extremely expensive, even if we take in that everything costs more in a capital. Yet still, such difference hit her below the belt. She took out her wallet and paid right up.

Lotus gave her a robe which Aloe helped in her putting on, despite she didn't require it.

"Please follow me Miss..."

"Agate."

The two ponies headed back to the main room Agate knew all too well, but this time she was the one laying on the bed instead. The spa was completely empty, which was not a surprise at this time of the day.

"Just lay down comfortably while I prepare the stones." Aloe told her in a lovely and soothing voice, as she trotted off for the other side of the room, and came back with a rolling stand that was a bit similar to a barbecue stand, only with smooth, shiny jet black stones instead of coal. She took out one and placed it on the top of the laying mare's spine, just below her neck, to which she responded with a small hiss.

"It might be hot at first but will cool down a bit later." Aloe calmed her as she placed another stone a little bit below. Agate - though the feeling give her the urge - resisted to turn around, after all, it would mess up everything. The stones began to cool down, and as Aloe laid down another one she started to get used to the feeling.

"I've never been to spas, you know. It feels weird." Agate explained as another stone was put on top of her.

"First time experience is always unique." Aloe chuckled as she warmed up her hooves by two stones "Now, we'll begin the actual massage part." she added, as she began rubbing her hot hooves against the upper back of her client. "Well? How does it feel?"

"H-hurts." the other one replied in a painful whisper, making Aloe lower the pressure against her.

"Better?" she asked for feedback once again, as her hooves made circular motions on Agate's back.

"Yes." Agate replied, though her voice still gave the impression it was uncomfortable, it just simply felt foreign.

"Just relax, Miss Agate." the beautician told in a calm manner, as she changed to wider and longer movements back and forth on the unicorn. Agate started to enjoy it after all, her body was finally able to let loose and from all that warmth, it felt a little bit numb as well.

Eventually, Aloe let loose of the pressure entirely and took out the two small stones. Considering her client's lack of knowledge and that it worked so far in the relaxation she explained this step of the process as well.

"Now I'm going to massage your sides with the stones." she said with the same deep and calm, almost seducing way she did before. She gently pressed the two hot objects against the mare's left shoulders, with small motions to left and right, rather than in circles. She proceeded to the right with the process, to the so called barrel, and the flank afterwards. It felt so incredibly good, Agate began to let out tiny little moans behind her mouth.

"How does it feel?" Aloe asked again, as she passed behind the unicorn to repeat the process from the other side.

"So good..." Agate told her out of sheer pleasure. "I can see why Rarity wanted to show me this place. She comes here often, right?" she asked. If Rarity was here often than they could hang out much more together, and they could also have something in common to talk about.

Aloe began chuckling a little once again "Miss Rarity is our VIP customer, she indeed comes here frequently.".

_'That explains the custom robe.'_

Agate began giggling as well "I wonder what she'd think if she'd find me here in a sudden."

Both mares kept on laughing as the little Aloe returned to her lava stones and put the ones she held back into where they belonged.

"A little bit more on the back and we're done." she explained, as she did exactly what she stated, rubbing her hooves at Agate's back up- and downwards, making her let out even more little moans.

"So you're twins with Lotus, hm? I wish I would have a counterpart like that." the mare said to keep up the conversation.

"Actually, we're just sisters, but it's great to have her indeed." Aloe replied as she once again let go of her client, picking and stashing the now cold stones from her body. As soon as Agate could she stood up from the bed when something odd caught her attention.

"Well? What does it feel like, Miss Agate?" Aloe asked.

Agate however, just kept moving her right frontal limb back and forth, as she'd try to toss away something in front of her.

"How?" she asked back, as she began waving her other hoof to the left and right, sweeping it across the ground "How did you do that?"

Aloe looked confused in a sudden, as Agate did a few small hops then turned her neck left and right.

"They move so easily, how did you do that?" she repeated once again, but now that Aloe knew the answer, a satisfied smile grew on her face.

"A massage helps in relaxing the muscles and releasing all the pent-up tension inside. Miss Agate had very much tension in her back, it must have felt stiff, hmm?"

"This is amazing!" Agate shouted joyfully "Aloe you're a miracle. Thank you so much!" she added as she hugged the earth pony out of the blue as a sneak attack. Even though it was a bit of awkward, her sincere laughter made the beautician proud of her work, for that was her job and nothing felt better than giving somepony a life-changing experience.

"Oh my gosh, there are so much stuff." she said, her eyes popping open and looking around but her body not letting go of her heroine yet. With a sudden gasp she made her decision "Can I try the gas-cabin-like-thingy next?"

Aloe awkwardly took a look at Lotus, who peeked at the clock. There was still about fifteen minutes left before closing, so a quick sauna was in the limit.

"Sure, but that'll be ten bits plus." Aloe told her with a warm smile.

"Mind if I pay afterwards? So we wouldn't need to run back and forth." Agate asked, letting go of Aloe who shook her head gently after some hesitation.

"This way please." she said, leading the excited unicorn to the other room. A huge wooden hut was in the left side, just right after the arch, while two smaller pools filled with a mud was on the right. Aloe opened the door to the sauna, where everything was made of wood, the walls and the benches that made up an U-shape, as well as a large holder filled with water and stones.

Aloe turned on the heating device that was masked by the wooden box, to get the water with the rocks boiling, while she took a bucket on the side and ran to get some water, returning a few seconds later.

She dropped the bucket of water on the bench as she started explaining the system "The sauna cleanse the pores of your skin and-"

The interruption was caused by her sister, who gently signed that she'd need her help with a bit of poking.

"I must leave for a little, Miss Agate, excuse me." Aloe said. She raised the ladle to take a bit of water she poured on the hot rocks, creating an huge smokescreen of a magician, disappearing along her sister after it settled.

"Oh, mane, that's pretty warm here." Agate marked, but as far as she knew this was the point of it. The heat kept rising, however, eventually making her lie down. After all, she was the only one there. It just got hotter and hotter, she was starting to wonder when it is going to be too much.

Meanwhile, in the staff's room, or better said, basement, bad news were being discussed.

"So it won't arrive until next week?" Aloe asked in frightened tone.

Lotus sighed, her tone indicated that she was to tear up "No, unfortunately. Wish I've had saw this coming and ordered more."

"Then... what are going to do?" Aloe asked, trembling from fear, as it would be an apocalyptic situation. Maybe it even was.

Lotus strengthened her soul and replied with confidence "Okay, we won't take the pool then, hopefully it won't be a big loss." however, her confidence didn't last too long as she sighed up from the fear of what the close future might bring. "Look, let's clear our minds with a seance and discuss it meanwhile."

Aloe gently nodded, her innocence and fright reflecting in her eyes, as she took a last look back, before the sisters left the furnace and the empty shells with the "Fire Crystals" labels.

Agate started to grow uncomfortable in the sauna, especially with that irritating fly landing on her from time to time, trying to disrupt her sleep. But not this time though, as she whipped her tail hard and fast by natural reaction to hit the drop of sweat on her flank, effectively knocking down the bucket, which's cold contents poured all into the hot stone-soup.

Lotus took the matches from the cupboard, as well as flipping the sign on the door with a skilled move of her tail, while Aloe prepared all the incense, long candles of wax in a spiral form with a material inside that released a mesmerising smell when burned. She laid them down one by one on the platform around the pool, while her sister lit them. After all candles were lit, Lotus turned down the lights with a click. The result was simply astonishing, the sight, the smell and the sounds of the water created such a powerful atmosphere that could cleanse the mind and body from all the stress, resulting in calmness and better, more rational thinking, something the two ponies needed desperately.

Lotus gently stepped into the pool, her sister afterwards. Though the water wasn't as warm as usual, it was not cold either. The two girls took a deep breath together, held it for a few seconds and exhaled, again, together.

"Do you think the crystals can arrive next Monday?" Aloe asked in almost whispers.

"I can only hope, we can't use neither the pool nor the sauna until then." Lotus replied.

"I'm scared, sister." Aloe told her as she moved closer, giving a hug to Lotus to help calm her shivering little soul down.

"It's going to be fine. Who knows, maybe the ponies will enjoy a cold pool more." the blue one whispered back as she curled her hooves softly around Aloe, gently stroking her mane downwards with her hooves.

"Hot, hot, hot, HOT!" a scream broke the silence as a second later, a mustard coated unicorn rushed in from behind the ark, her body steaming madly as she was literally sliding in on her sweating hooves. Without any thinking, moreover, before anypony could even have the chance to think of anything the only thing the two sisters saw is the mare charging towards them. She sprinted a few slippery steps then jumped, landing in the pool with a semi-belly jump. Agate's little stunt created a wave large enough to soak the beauticians' face as well as knock over or down the only light sources in the room. As Lotus and Aloe opened their eyes again, along with Agate emerging from below only one thing was welcoming their vision: complete darkness.

The armorsmith was the first to talk "Oops! Wait, I can help.". Thus, she began forcing all the power she had into her horn, that dimly lit in a purple way at first, but then began to send tiny sparks in the air.

"Hnnnnngg!". Agate's teeth seemed as they could crack in any second from the force, as the rims of her horn began glowing with an orange color, lighting up the room once again, like a candle.

The girls knew she can't hold it for long and jumped out from the tub to collect the incense once again, quickly drying them with the end with their mane. Lotus quickly brought over hers to Agate and held the end of the candle close to the horn so hot now, it turned from orange to almost pure white, lighting the stick up once again. Right afterwards, the unicorn's horn went dead, Agate let out a powerful exhale as she rested her head against the wood with heavy breathing. The two sisters traded flames multiple times as they restored the seance, however only afterwards did Aloe notice the steam the water let go of.

"Miss Agate, I'm sorry but we're closed." Lotus told her in a rather angered manner, as she took a dip into the water. Much to her surprise, it was very hot.

"It's my fault sister, I'm the one who forgot about her." Aloe interrupted to take the responsibility for her actions.

"No, it's my bad girls." Agate added as she shaded the rims of her eyes "Seems like I'm making more trouble than good. I guess it's time for me to leave."

"Not at all, Miss Agate. Please stay!" Aloe shouted, turning to her sister on the right, whispering something in her ears, which Lotus replied with similar whispers.

"Miss Agate..." Lotus said in a slightly different and innocent tone "We'd like to ask you a small favor if it is possible."

"We're on shortage of fire crystals, which we use for heat source. However, we need them badly for the outside pool in the Spring Spa Weekend otherwise our losses could be huge." Aloe explained, her voice and eyes looking at possibly the only hope they had left: Agate. "Could you help us with your magic in keeping the pool warm? We could not thank enough."

"Oh girls." Agate moaned adorably as she swam to the two other pony "Of course I can help. You made my body feel like new, this is the least I can do." she explained gratefully.

"Thank you very much." the earth ponies replied joyfully, as their hooves emerged from the water facing against one another.

"One more thing." Lotus added "Could you please keep what you have seen a secret?"

"Rarity and I get into such misleading poses all the time, I know how you feel." Agate laughed, with the two other ponies joining later.

Eventually, Agate rested her head against the wood next to Aloe as well. The smell of the burning incense was so very relaxing, she felt like in Heaven at that moment. She let yet another deep moan leave her throat before starting a bit of a chit-chat with the most beautiful pair she ever met.


End file.
